
Class ^xkmu. 
Book l\ 3 
Copyright ]n'°_ ViZt 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 










ROAD to ATTAINMENT 


The Elements of Pep 


OTHER BOOKS 


by Dr. William S. Sadler 
and Dr. Lena K. Sadler 


The Science of Living 
The Physiology of Faith and Fear 
Worry and Nervousness 
The Quest for Happiness 
The Mind at Mischief 
The Essentials of Healthful Living 
Americanitis: Blood Pressure and Nerves 
The Mother and Her Child 
How to Feed the Baby 
The Art of Dieting 
The Cause and Cure of Colds 
Constipation and How to Cure Yourself 
The Plagues of Modern Living 
Unto the Third and Fourth Generations 
The Business Woman, Her Personality and 
Health 

The Psychology of Mental Healing 
The Riddle of Spiritualism 






TBhe 

ROAD to ATTAINMENT 




Elements 



M.D., F.A.C.S. 


WILLIAM 


FORMERLY PROFESSOR AT THE POST-GRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF CHICAGO; SENIOR 
ATTENDING SURGEON TO COLUMBUS HOSPITAL; DIRECTOR OF THE CHICAGO 
INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH AND DIAGNOSIS; FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN 
COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL 

association; member of the Chicago medical 

SOCIETY, THE ILLINOIS STATE MEDICAL 
SOCIETY, THE AMERICAN PUBLIC 
HEALTH ASSOCIATION, 

ETC. 



V 


■ Second Edition 


THOMAS S. ROCKWELL COMPANY 

CHICAGO 


a 0 * 


1930 




Copyright 

THOMAS S. ROCKWELL COMPANY 
1930 






Printed in the United States of America 

©CIA 24399 


PREFACE 


A T FIRST thought, it may seem strange that a 
physician would write a book on “The Road 
to Attainment,’ 9 but many years of close observa¬ 
tion of my patients and careful study of the 
reasons for their successes and failures, with many 
of which I have been most intimately acquainted, 
have convinced me that, aside from the advantages 
or handicaps of heredity over which we have little 
or no control, ninety per cent of the successes and 
an equal number of the failures of modern men 
and women are due directly to their obedience to, 
or neglect of, the laws of living, both mental and 
physical—all of which come within the realm of 
the physician. 

In the practice of my profession I am being con¬ 
tinually confronted with men and women who are 
breaking down prematurely—well meaning souls 
who are sick, miserable, and inefficient because of 
their ignorance of the simple and fundamental 
laws of life. “The way of the transgressor is 
hard” is just as true of our unintentional viola¬ 
tions of the laws of health as it is of transgression 
in the social and moral realms, and the penalty in 
failure and ruin is just as inexorable. 

It has been my purpose in this volume to present 
a concise picture of the essentials of health, for 
mind and body, to tell a plain, straightforward 
story of the hygienic requisites of healthful living 
and efficient working. 


5 



6 


PREFACE 


I send it forth with the hope that it not only 
may prevent the untimely breakdown and the pre¬ 
mature suspension of many a career, but that it 
may contribute liberally to the success of many 
another. 

William S. Sadlek. 

533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 9 

PART I. THE BAROMETERS OF PEP—HEALTH INDICATORS 15 

I. Iron as a Pep Carrier 16 

II. Acidity in Relation to Pep 19 

III. Blood Pressure— The Gauge of Pep 29 

IV. Brain Storms— Temper Explosions 35 

V. Skin Elasticity and the Pep Gland 41 

VI. Vital Capacity— Lung Capacity 46 

VII. Man and the Microbe 49 

PART II. THE CULTIVATION OF PEP—HEALTH ENERGY 55 

I. The Outdoor Life 56 

II. Eating for Health 61 

III. The Stream of Life 70 

IV. Water in Relation to Health 74 

V. Getting Rid of Poisons 79 

VI. Bodily Activity 84 

VII. Rest and Sleep 88 

PART III. SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP—HEALTHY SELF-EXPRESSION 93 

I. Contentment— Love of IVork—Vocational Patri¬ 
otism 95 

II. Loyalty — Love of Your Firm—Commercial Patri¬ 
otism 96 

III. Recreation — Love of Play—Primitive Patriotism 98 

IV. Sociability— Love of Folks—Social Patriotism 101 

V. Manhood (Womanhood)— Love of Family — Racial 

Patriotism 105 

VI. Religion— Love of God—Moral Patriotism 106 

VII. False Safety Valves for Pep iio 

PART IV. PEP SEEDS—HEALTH LAWS IN A NUTSHELL II4 

I. General Principles 114 

II. Sunlight and Fresh Air 116 

III. Deep Breathing 118 

IV. Physical Exercise 119 

V. Healthful Clothing 120 

VI. The Art of Eating 121 

VII. Pure Water Drinking and Bathing 124 

VIII. Rest, Relaxation, and Recreation 126 

APPENDIX A !29 

APPENDIX B I35 

7 























































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INTRODUCTION 


TX/^HEN we come to the study of the factors 
T ^ which enter into real success, we are brought 
face to face with the discussion of mental happi¬ 
ness, physical health, and personal efficiency, for 
they are all vital elements in the achievement of 
success, and must be our constant companions 
along the Road to Attainment. Of the three, 
physical health is perhaps the most fundamental, 
for without it one cannot enjoy a full measure of 
happiness, neither can he reach the peak of effi¬ 
ciency. Just what then is health? How can it be 
attained and how maintained through the vicissi¬ 
tudes of daily living? And what is the relation¬ 
ship of health to personal efficiency—to mental 
happiness ? 

In all the English language, that slang word 
“Pep” most nearly expresses our conception of 
all three of these vital elements of success, for it 
has come to stand for the state of mind and body 
of the men and women who are physically fit, men¬ 
tally contented and alert, and at the top-notch of 
efficiency. 

When you are full of pep you are like a race 
horse being held in check ready for the trial of 
strength, eager for any test of endurance. You 
wake up in the morning and face the day’s prob¬ 
lems with courage and confidence, feeling in every 
way fit for the struggle and assured of success. 
When your pep is at high tide you are in possession 


9 


10 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


of all the elements of physical courage, mental 
alertness, and moral confidence, that are so essen¬ 
tial to achieving success in life. To have pep is 
to { have health; they are synonymous. 

Now, on the other hand, when you have lost your 
pep, you find yourself a victim of fatigue, depres¬ 
sion, and despair. Your courage, hope, and ambi¬ 
tion are at low ebb, and you are utterly unfit to go 
out and meet the rebuffs and obstacles which are 
inseparable from the struggle for existence. 

HEREDITY AND HEALTH 

We are all omnibuses in which our ancestors 
ride; we inherit many things, good and bad, from 
our family tree. While our individual habits of 
living have a marked effect on our health, and 
while our personal hygienic practices have much 
to do with our health and efficiency; nevertheless, 
heredity exerts its influence all along the line. 
The tendency to good health and long life is, to a 
certain extent, a matter of inheritance, although 
our personal methods of living have much to do 
with the actual results. 

When it comes to the elements of our person¬ 
ality, we are largely under the influence of our 
inherited ductless gland system. Cleverness and 
genius are matters largely of inheritance. 

Training increases our mental efficiency, but the 
ability to think quickly and to think correctly is a 
type of intuition, a gift from our ancestors. 

THE PEP GLAND 

From what the newspapers have to say from 
time to time about the grafting of sex glands, the 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


glands of youth, and so on, the casual reader comes 
to get altogether the wrong idea about the duct¬ 
less gland business. The real truth of the matter 
is that the thyroid gland is the pep gland. This 
little gland that is found in the neck, sitting astride 
the windpipe, which, when it enlarges, is called a 
goiter, is, after all, in the case of the vast majority 
of American men and women, the real energy 
regulator and the pep-producing gland. In a 
small minority of cases of the more phlegmatic 
type of individual, their staying qualities—the 
secret of their endurance—are to be found in the 
adrenal glands, which are perched on top of each 
kidney. At least these two glands—thyroid and 
adrenal—taken together comprise the secret of 
pep and endurance. 

We are quite accustomed to thinking of the will 
as being the sovereign of the mind, the real ruler 
of the intellect, and the architect of destiny, but 
this is not altogether true. Our wills are not the 
unconditional monarchs we have formerly thought 
them to be. The human will we now know rules 
only as a sovereign in a limited monarchy. It is 
a monarch strictly limited by the gray matter 
which our ancestors gave us, and by the chemical 
constitution and by-laws such as we find in the 
ductless gland system. 

SELF-CONFIDENCE 

The possession of pep implies the enjoyment of 
a reasonable degree of self-confidence. Fear is a 
stealthy assassin that leaves in its wake not only 4 
failure and defeat, but also disease and despair. 
Fear is at the bottom of much of disease and de- 


12 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


feat, and we must remember that the only known 
cure for fear is faith. There is a legitimate, sane 
self-confidence which every healthy and enthu¬ 
siastic individual should have. It is one of the 
attributes of pep, that we should believe in our 
ability to deliver the goods. Pep gives us courage, 
not conceit. 

You must cultivate a legitimate faith in your¬ 
self in order to overcome the inherent tendency 
to fear; for fear is heartless, cold-blooded, and 
cruel; when it once lays its fiendish hand upon an 
otherwise successful individual, it never loosens 
its grip until he is brought down to ruin, unless, 
perchance, in the midst of such a life and death 
struggle, some evangel comes along to preach the 
gospel of faith and proclaim deliverance from fear 
in the name of hope and determination. 

SELF-CONTROL—MODERATION 

But even as desirable as it is, pep must be sub¬ 
ject to control. Said the Apostle Paul: “Let 
your moderation be known unto all men. ,, We 
must exercise a sane control to prevent overwork 
and premature breakdowns. We must remember 
that “discretion is the better part of valor,’’ and 
so become experts in the exercise of thorough¬ 
going restraint, manly and womanly self-control. 
Successful and efficient people must cultivate the 
art of living with themselves as they are and with 
the world as it is. 

System is the secret of a well ordered, healthy 
and efficient life. Have a regular time, as far as 
possible, for doing things. Have a regular place, 
as far as possible, for everything, and put every- 


INTRODUCTION 


13 


thing in its place. This is the secret of prompt¬ 
ness and is the foundation for all organization, 
which is so essential to efficient working and happy 
living. 

It is a good plan to adopt a slogan, to have a 
motto for living. I like best the familiar 4 4 Do It 
Now.” Procrastination is the thief of time; the 
reason so many people have so little time to do 
things is that they never do anything today that 
can be put off until tomorrow. Thousands make 
failures of their careers because of the enormous 
amount of excess baggage they carry around. 
They fail to get anywhere because of this tremen¬ 
dous load of unfinished business which clogs their 
minds. They have but little time and energy for 
the important things of life because their heads are 
crammed full of the trifles of living. 

Let us learn to strip ourselves for action, to clear 
the decks for service. Let us learn to focus our 
attention on the essentials, and to bury a host of 
nonessentials with each dying day. 

BE A GOOD LOSER 

Much of the sting of life can be avoided if we can 
early learn to be patient in the midst of difficul¬ 
ties, to be tolerant in the presence of misunder¬ 
standing, and to be courageous when confronted 
with probable defeat. In other words, it is good 
for the health, it is a conservator of pep, early to 
learn to be a good loser. We cannot always suc¬ 
ceed in everything. We are doomed to experience 
numerous failures and to suffer from a certain 
number of defeats, but let us take our medicine like 
real men and women. Let us quit grumbling about 


14 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


our difficulties and whining over our defeats. Let 
us rise up, shake the dust off our feet, and exclaim, 
“ Never touched me! Onward to achievement and 
success/ ’ 

Acquire a broad vision of things in this world 
and as you play the game of life, remember that 
you are playing for double stakes, not only for 
success in your chosen career, as you trudge on 
through this vale of tears, but you are also in¬ 
directly, perhaps even unconsciously, playing a 
still greater game. You are not only struggling 
for health and success in this life, but you are at 
the same time developing a character that may 
survive this sphere of mortal doom and be ac¬ 
counted worthy of an imperishable crown which I 
think most of us believe awaits those who have 
done well their allotted tasks on earth and have 
proved faithful (sometimes even if not altogether 
successful) in the long and intense struggle for 
better things and higher ideals. 


PART I 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP- 
HEALTH INDICATORS 

TXTHEN a machine is designed to run at high 
pressure, it is always provided with a pres¬ 
sure indicator which informs the engineer how the 
mechanism is performing. And so, before we take 
up the study of the cultivation of pep, it may be 
well to give some consideration to the barometers 
of pep, to the pressure gauges of health. There 
are seven of these pep indicators; that is, there are 
seven different ways of estimating the pressure 
and energy of the human machine. These pep 
barometers serve to show us whether or not our 
pressure is above safety limits or below the levels 
of health and efficiency. 

By means of a little forethought on your part 
and a little co-operation on the part of your doctor, 
you can actually know whether you are wrecking 
your personality engine on the one hand as the 
result of overwork, abuse or too high a pressure; 
or whether you are overly conservative, unduly 
sparing yourself, failing to fire up your boilers to 
a point of real efficiency. You will no doubt be 
surprised when you learn how simple most of these 
tests and observations are, and how easy it will be 
for you to become intelligent regarding your 
energy possibilities and the reserve of power resi¬ 
dent in your mechanism of mind and body. 


15 


16 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


I. IRON AS A PEP CARRIER 

Human blood contains two sorts of cells—the 
white and the red blood corpuscles. The white 
cells have many duties to perform which we shall 
note later on, as it is the red cells that more espe¬ 
cially concern us at this time, since they are the 
little fellows who carry oxygen from the lungs to 
the body cells and then gather the smoke or 
carbonic acid gas and carry it back to the lungs 
for exhalation. Now these little red blood cells 
are able to act in this double capacity because they 
are endowed with a peculiar chemical substance 
(hemoglobin) which consists largely of iron, and 
which gives the blood its red color. 

1. Iron in the Blood. If we prick the lobe of 
the ear with a needle and take a drop of your 
blood on a sheet of white paper, allow it to dry for 
a moment, and then compare it with a graded sys¬ 
tem of colors, we can estimate the percentage of 
iron present in the blood. If it stacks up with 
the general average, we call it 100 per cent, or if it 
is a little below, we say 95 per cent. In the case 
of many sedentary people over thirty years of 
age, we often find it down as low as 90 per cent. 

When your iron (hemoglobin) is below 80 per 
cent, the situation is becoming serious; and if it 
is as low as 75 per cent we say you have some 
form of anemia; you are really sick. You readily 
can see, since your iron is the oxygen carrier of 
the body, that your fires of life will burn brightly 
only when the oxygen carrying power of the blood 
is not impaired. You cannot get a bright flame 
without oxygen, and you cannot have vivacity of 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


17 


personality and feel over-running with pep when 
the iron in your blood is below par and the furnace 
of life is thereby deprived of a normal supply of 
oxygen. 

If you are short on iron (hemoglobin), you 
cannot expect to feel well. If your iron is below 
par your pep w T ill be below par. You will feel 
more or less “all in”—as if you had a serious 
attack of spring fever. 

2. Iron Foods. If you are below par in iron, 
what are you going to do about it? Well, there 
are a number of ways you can get at it. You 
know when folks have had a hemorrhage and are 
very sick with anemia, we take them to a hospital 
and do a blood transfusion. We find someone 
who has blood belonging to their group, and we 
draw one or two pints out of a vein and inject it 
into our sick patient. But in other less serious 
cases we take some form of vegetable iron, put it 
into a hypodermic syringe and inject it into the 
muscles. In other cases we give ordinary min¬ 
eral iron in the form of Blaud’s pills, which are 
sometimes quite hard on the digestion, and con¬ 
stitute an uncertain, unreliable way of get¬ 
ting iron through the digestive system. If we 
have to get iron artificially, it is best to have it 
injected into the muscle or veins with a hypoder¬ 
mic needle. 

These different methods of getting iron, val¬ 
uable as they are in special cases, do not repre¬ 
sent the way you are going to get it as a rule, un¬ 
less you are on the borderline of anemia. You 
are going to eat your iron —you are going to eat 
foods rich in iron. You will get your iron at the 


18 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


grocery store and the fruit store, not the drug 
store. 

Many of our common foods contain more or 
less iron, hut I want to give you a list of the foods 
that are especially rich in iron. For instance, 
dates and raisins contain as much iron as beef 
steak. But let me give you now, the list of foods 
rich in iron, naming them in the order of the 
greatest iron content: spinach, especially fresh, 
green spinach; then yolk of eggs, asparagus, 
oranges, tomatoes, apples, and milk. 

Remember, you are not going to feel well if 
your iron is much below 90 per cent, and the best 
and surest way of getting it up, if it is below nor¬ 
mal, is to eat an abundance of these foods which 
are rich in iron. See to it that every day, and 
still better every meal, you get some one of these 
foods which contain a large amount of iron. And 
remember this solemn scientific fact: no iron, no 
pep; less iron, less pep; more iron, more pep. 

But don’t allow some advertising genius to 
lead you to the drug store to buy your iron in a 
bottle. Don’t waste your money on patent medi¬ 
cines. If, for any reason, you are forced to take 
your iron in drug store form, temporarily, then 
buy the simple and reliable Blaud’s pills, but don’t 
take Blaud’s pills or any other kind of pills unless 
a first class doctor has prescribed them for you. 
Don’t drug yourself. Remember the saying we 
doctors have among ourselves, viz., that a man is 
always sure to have a fool for a doctor when he 
prescribes for himself. 

I have seen a few injections of iron work won¬ 
ders for some anemic young woman. It is all 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


19 


right to take iron in some form to start yonr cure, 
but in the end you must depend upon your food 
as the best source of iron. 

II. ACIDITY IN RELATION TO PEP 

A French physician once called the human 
body a laboratory for the manufacture of poisons, 
and it is literally true that every time a muscle 
contracts, a nerve twinges, or a brain cell thinks, 
poisons are actually produced, and these poisons 
are all of an acid nature so that the blood always 
carries more or less of these acid substances in 
solution. 

It has even been suggested that one of the 
reasons for getting drowsy at eventide and 
finally falling to sleep is because these acid sub¬ 
stances accumulate in such large amounts in the 
blood, as the result of the day’s mental and physi¬ 
cal activities, that drowsiness and the uncon¬ 
sciousness of sleep is produced. 

Now we must remember that, chemically speak¬ 
ing, urine is simply a sample of the blood—blood 
filtered out through the kidneys—minus the red 
and white cells. 

We must further remember that if acids un¬ 
duly accumulate in the blood a condition is pro¬ 
duced which we doctors call acidemia, and this in 
reality is a disease. If you are thus harboring 
too much acid in your system you are doomed to 
feel more or less drowsy, fatigued, and all worn 
out. You will feel utterly unfit for aggressive ac¬ 
tion, and if you undertake to describe your lack 
of energy and pep, you do so by saying that you 
feel “all in.” 


20 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Too much acid in the blood makes you dull 
and stupid, fills your brain with cobwebs, and 
when we test a fresh specimen of urine in such 
cases, we sometimes find the acidity double or 
even treble the normal amount. 

Without boring you with technical details of 
chemistry, let me explain that we have certain 
simple methods of testing for the acid of urine 
which enable us to determine the quantity pres¬ 
ent, and the results of this test are interpreted 
in what we call degrees. That is, we say that the 
normal average urine, when we test it shows 
about 30° of acidity and we take that as the stand¬ 
ard, as an average for comparison. 

Some persons who eat very little meat may 
have an acidity test as low as 10° or 15°; while 
others who overeat or undereliminate, as well as 
those who eat a large amount of meat and who 
suffer from chronic constipation, sometimes show 
an acidity test of 50°, 75° or even 100°. 

It will help us to understand this question of 
acidity if we remember that the human body is an 
acid making factory, and that the urine is a sam¬ 
ple of the blood, showing at any time very accu¬ 
rately the amount of acid present in the circu¬ 
lating fluids of the body. 

1. The Acids of the Blood. The acidity of 
the body is made up from acids derived from a 
number of different sources, and they may be 
classed, for the purpose of further discussion, 
under the following heads: 

a. Physiologic acids . The whole process of 
nutrition is accompanied by acid production, as 
we have already noted. These acids result from 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


21 


the living activities of all the cells composing the 
brain and the body, and they serve as the founda¬ 
tion of the acid content of the circulating fluids 
of the body. 

b. Food acids. It is a fact that certain foods, 
when burning up in the body, are going to yield 
more acids as compared with other foods. All 
food assimilated is burned up in the body, turned 
into ashes, thus liberating its heat and energy, 
and these food ashes, or waste products may be 
either alkaline or acid. Some foods are acid, some 
alkaline, and others, like sugar and fat, are neu¬ 
tral, being so completely burned up as to leave 
practically no ash behind. 

c. Acid autotoxins. These represent the acid 
substances reabsorbed into the blood as the result 
of chronic constipation—tardy bowel elimination. 
Such substances as indiccm, which is sometimes 
found in the urine and which should not normally 
be present, are representative of this class of 
poisons. Indican should be eliminated by the 
bowel, and can be taken as a type of those sub¬ 
stances which sometimes flood our blood, and as 
the result of which we are said to be suffering 
from autointoxication . 

d. Poisons. It is possible to introduce into 
the blood many poisons of an acid nature, and 
this we do when we habitually use tea, coffee, to¬ 
bacco, alcohol, and numerous drugs such as 
aspirin. Practically all of these substances, when 
they are burned up in the body, leave behind a 
very strong and harmful acid ash. 

e. Microbic toxins. Practically all of the 
commonly recognized disease germs produce acid 


22 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


toxins, whether you have a bad cold or the “flu,” 
an abscessed tooth, chronic tonsilitis, or chronic 
appendicitis; the microbic poisons which are con¬ 
tinuously finding their way into tho blood are acid 
in nature. Almost all of the simple diseases ac¬ 
companied by fever produce acid toxins. 

Mr. G. was 31 years of age, and he had enjoyed 
good health all his life, but last spring he began 
to feel run down, thought he had spring fever, 
needed a tonic of some sort. His examination 
showed his blood pressure was up a little. His 
kidneys showed some irritation. He felt, as he 
described it, “thoroughly mean most of the time.” 
A careful investigation showed nothing wrong 
with this patient except an ulcerated tooth which 
was promptly removed. Within six weeks, his 
kidneys had recovered; his lassitude and fatigue 
had departed; his pep had returned; and as he de¬ 
scribed it, he was “a new man, through and 
through.” This is illustrative of what the little 
foxes of focal infection can do to rob us of the joy 
of working and the pleasure of living. 

Now we see there are five ways in which we 
can abnormally increase the acidity of the blood. 
Of course all blood is normally a bit acid—as we 
have already said, about 30°—but we get in 
trouble when this acidity becomes abnormally in¬ 
creased. Let us remember when it comes to this 
question of acidity, that it is all summed up in a 
few words: the more the acid the less the pep; the 
less the acid, down to normal limits, the more the 
pep. 

When it comes to the examination of the 
urine for acidity, if it is to be done scientifically, 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


23 


you should have the urine tested every day or two 
until you have made three or four tests, and it 
should always be tested when fresh—just after it 
has been voided—as when urine is allowed to 
stand the acidity changes of itself. And thus 
after a number of fresh specimens are tested, you 
can strike an average of the real amount of 
acidity present in the blood because the urine nat¬ 
urally differs from day to day as we make varia¬ 
tions in our diet, exercise, etc. 

You should be told in this connection that it 
is not the famous uric acid in the blood that causes 
the mischief, that gives you a tired feeling in the 
head, the dull feeling in the morning, that makes 
you feel like you are just getting over a hard sick 
spell. Uric acid is really a rather harmless sub¬ 
stance, merely an indicator of the presence of the 
more harmful acids which are the real mischief 
makers. 

2. Acid and Alkaline Foods. From what I 
have said about the sources of acidity in the blood, 
you have probably gathered the idea that our 
acidity can be increased or decreased by the foods 
we eat; and you are quite right, for the diet is the 
chief thing, after all, which determines our degree 
of acidity. 

I am very anxious that you should get this 
straightened out in your minds, for I not infre¬ 
quently have patients come to me and tell me how 
they have quit eating grapefruit, oranges, and 
other acid fruits because their doctor had told 
them they had too much acid in the blood. You 
no doubt will be surprised when I tell you that 
all the acid fruits, except plums and cranberries, 


24 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


are the best alkaline producing foods in the 
world. 

In other words, if the doctor tells you that you 
have too much acid in your blood, then you should 
go in for grapefruit, lemons, and oranges, for that 
will be the quickest way to reduce your acidity. 
Without going into the details of chemistry, I will 
explain this apparent anomaly by saying that 
in the process of digestion, the acids of all the 
fruits, with the exception of the two mentioned, 
are converted into alkaline salts which tend to 
neutralize the acidity of the blood, and thereby 
increase its “alkaline reserve.’’ 

In this connection we will present, in parallel 
columns, an arrangement and classification of all 
our common food stuffs, so that you can see at a 
glance just which foods, when burned up in the 
system, will produce acid ashes and which will 
produce alkaline ashes. And of all the things I 
might tell you about diet, this one item is more 
important than all the rest put together. 

Now let us take a square look at this “deadly 
parallel,” these important food facts which have 
so much to do with health and disease; with 
fatigue and lethargy on the one hand, and with 
vim and pep on the other. We will put on the 
left side all the foods which are acid in nature— 
that is, those which, when burned up in the body, 
yield an acid ash; and on the right we will put 
those which are alkaline; and as you study this 
food table you will be surprised to see how the 
majority of you are habitually overeating the 
acid foods, and undereating the alkaline ash pro¬ 
ducers. 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


25 


FOODS WHICH TEND 
TO ACIDIFY THE 
BLOOD 

1. Animal foods: All forms 
of flesh foods, fish, fowl, 
etc., including all kinds 
of meat soups, meat 
broths, beef tea, bouillon, 
etc. 

2. Eggs. 

3. Breadstuff s: All kinds of 
breads, whether made of 
wheat, rye, or com; 
crackers, toast, griddle 
cakes, etc. 

4. Pastries: All sorts of 
pies and cakes (except 
fruit pies, and other des¬ 
serts containing milk or 
sour fruits). 

5. Cereals: Rice, oatmeal, 
and breakfast foods of all 
kinds, including the flaked 
and toasted breakfast 
foods. 

6. Miscellaneous: Peanuts, 
plums, prunes, and cran¬ 
berries. (Plums and cran¬ 
berries come under this 
heading because of their 
benzoic acid, which the 
body cannot fully oxi¬ 
dize.) 


FOODS WHICH TEND 
TO ALKALINIZE THE 
BLOOD 

1. Dairy products: Milk, ice 
cream, cottage cheese, 
cheese, buttermilk, etc. 

2. Soups: All forms of 
vegetable and fruit soups 
and broths. 

3. Fruit juices: All the 
fresh fruit juices except 
plums, 

4. Fresh fruits: All fresh 
fruits—sweet and sour— 
(except plums and cran¬ 
berries). 

5. Dried fruits: All dried 
fruits (except prunes) — 
especially figs. 

6. Vegetables: All kinds— 
especially beets, carrots, 
celery, and lettuce. 

7. The legumes: Beans, peas, 
and lentils. 

8. Nuts: All the nuts belong 
to this column—including 
almonds and chestnuts. 

9. Miscellaneous: Potatoes 
and bananas. 


3. The Efficiency Diet. And now I think you 
are prepared to reform your dietetic practices so 
that you will begin, as the months pass, to get rid 
of some of your distressing fatigue and to enjoy 
more of that pleasurable feeling of fulsome well¬ 
being. 


26 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Let me call attention again to the fact that 
when you take large amounts of tea and coffee 
with your meals, or when you are in the habit of 
using any other drugs, such as tobacco or alcohol, 
not excepting headache powders, you are putting 
almost pure acid products directly into your sys¬ 
tem to be added to those which you naturally make 
on your own account. 

You will notice that in our parallel classifica¬ 
tion of foods, nothing was said about butter and 
sugar. That is because these substances are com¬ 
pletely burned up in the system; they are con¬ 
verted into the simple products of smoke and 
water. There are practically no ashes left be¬ 
hind and so they are in this sense neutral and 
therefore we do not have to take them into ac¬ 
count. 

Let us not forget that these so-called acid foods 
are all good foods. I do not mean to discredit 
them in any way except to emphasize the fact that 
we should eat more foods found in the alkaline 
•column. I do not mean that you should quit using 
these acid foods—the meats, eggs, and cereals—I 
merely want you to cut them down—to eat more 
of the alkaline ash formers. You will observe 
that bread, the so-called staff of life, is in the acid 
column, and in this connection it would be much 
better for many people if they ate less bread and 
more potatoes. Many individuals who lead a 
sedentary life would particularly have their 
health improved if they would eat more of the 
alkaline ash forming foods. 

Just remember that all of these so-called acid 
foods are good if you don’t overeat them; and 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 27 

that when your acidity is increased from any 
cause you should very definitely eat more of the 
foods belonging to the alkaline group. 

So now if we can keep our iron or hemoglobin 
up around 95 or 100, and if we can keep the acid¬ 
ity of our blood down around normal (20° to 30°) 
we will accomplish much toward overcoming the 
tendency to habitual fatigue, and add a whole lot 
to our stock of energy and our storehouse of pep. 
In this way we will have a blood stream that will 
bring joy and gladness to the untold millions upon 
millions of tiny little cells which constitute the 
bodily commonwealth, and these little living bits 
of protoplasm will be cheered in the performance 
of their physiologic tasks when they are thus 
bathed with nourishing, non-irritating, life-giving 
blood. These little fellows will begin to feel like 
the proverbial million dollars, and so you in turn 
will begin to feel as if you were surcharged with 
pep, you yourself will begin to feel like a million 
dollars; but when these untold millions of little 
cell creatures are irritated, poisoned, and smoth¬ 
ered, when they are sick, doped, and suffocated 
by over-acidity and iron deficiency of the blood, 
how in the name of common sense, can you expect 
to feel well? Under such unfortunate circum¬ 
stances you are bound yourself, in your own con¬ 
sciousness, to feel depressed, dopey, sick, and 
suffocated. 

Mr. P. was an engineer who began gradually 
to lose his pep. He thought he had some serious 
stomach trouble. Investigation proved that this 
trouble existed largely in his own imagination. 
His stomach trouble was not organic, it was purely 


28 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


functional. But he did have a high degree of 
acidity. He was suffering from acidemia. A 
change in his diet, eating less meat, more fruits 
and vegetables, and drinking more water, with the 
use of bran and mineral oil to overcome his con¬ 
stipation, resulted in three months in not only 
putting on fourteen pounds of weight, but in 
changing the expression on his face, the tone of 
his voice, in fact, in making a new man out of him. 
His fatigue was gone, and he was surcharged with 
pep from early in the morning until late at night. 
This is a case of loss of pep due to chronic poison¬ 
ing, to increased acidity of the circulating fluids 
of the body. 

Mr. H. was a sedentary man, in fact, a teacher, 
who began to run down, as it were, at the heel, 
and after more or less complaining, decided to 
give up work and take a three months’ vacation. 
He came back feeling no better, and a careful 
study of the man revealed but one possible expla¬ 
nation for his trouble—he was found to be sound 
from head to foot, except that he ate too much. 
This man was eating about 4000 calories a day, 
about twice what he should consume. He was put 
on two meals a day, on a diet amounting to about 
2000 calories a day, and in two months was a well 
man, entirely recovered from his fatigue, and do¬ 
ing his work with pleasure and extreme satisfac¬ 
tion. This was about the only thing that was done 
for him except that he was made to drink regu¬ 
larly eight glasses of water every day. 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


29 


III. BLOOD PRESSURE—THE GAUGE 
OF PEP 

Every steam engine is provided with gauges 
and safety valves for the indication and regula¬ 
tion of internal pressure. Now, blood pressure 
has a lot to do, not only with health, but with 
your feeling of well-being. I take it for granted 
that the subject of blood pressure is too well un¬ 
derstood to need much description as to the meth¬ 
ods of taking it, etc. Let me merely remind you 
that blood pressure is, after all, in a measure, a 
gauge of physical energy; it is the indicator of in¬ 
tensity that tells a whole lot about your stock of 
pep. 

1. What Is Blood Pressure? You have about 
a thousand miles of blood vessels. Connected 
with these is the human heart—a pump that beats 
incessantly, from the cradle to the grave. Those 
of you who are around twenty or twenty-five 
years of age should have a blood pressure of 
about 120 millimeters of mercury, and so we say 
that the average or normal blood pressure for 
adults is about 120. You can easily vary ten 
points either way and yet be wholly normal—or 
even fifteen points. As you get older, your blood 
pressure goes up one point for every two years 
increase in age, so that if your pressure is 120 
when you are twenty, it should be 135 when you 
are fifty—that would be considered normal blood 
pressure for that age. 

Now, there are a lot of things that can influ¬ 
ence blood pressure, and I can only briefly touch 
upon some of them; but what I want to call your 


30 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


attention to now is that you feel just grand—like 
a million dollars—when your blood pressure is 
high, provided it does not go too high; and that 
you feel thoroughly “ rotten/ ’ and limp as a dish- 
rag when your blood pressure falls very far be¬ 
low normal. 

At my age I am very proud of a low blood 
pressure—it only runs around 115—but I would 
not be proud of it if I did not know that my heart 
was sound, on the one hand, and that I feel full of 
pep all the time, on the other; for ordinarily one 
would not feel as peppy as I do with a pressure 
as low as I have. I must belong to one of those 
families that run a low blood pressure, for I am 
beginning to find out that this tendency to either 
high or low blood pressure runs in certain fami¬ 
lies. I have such a great margin of safety as I 
grow older. I can work hard and live easy and 
know that at least I am in no immediate danger 
from any of those high pressure diseases such as 
apoplexy, heart failure, etc.; and you should know 
that heart failure is the greatest cause of death 
in America at the present time. Now we are 
not proud of a low pressure that follows a long 
period of high pressure; we call such a condi¬ 
tion “secondary low pressure,” and it means 
that the heart has begun to fizzle out. It means 
trouble. 

2. Low Blood Pressure. Let us first dispose 
of the matter of low blood pressure. Low blood 
pressure is found in many conditions, but the one 
I particularly want to talk about is nervous ex¬ 
haustion —brain fag. These folks with tired out 
nerves get out of bed in the morning, even after 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


31 


they have had a fairly good nights rest, and ac¬ 
tually have to force themselves to dress. The 
longer they sleep the worse they feel. They are 
not good for anything until nine or ten o’clock in 
the morning. By the time they are ready to get 
started it is time for lunch. Then they loaf 
around for an hour or two, trying to get up 
enough steam to do something; about the middle 
of the afternoon their batteries pick up enough to 
let them get into action, but just about the time 
they are steamed up and ready for business, the 
day’s work is over. They feel full of pep aftefr 
dinner, but the day’s business is over. They are 
feeling fine as the evening draws on, but they have 
nothing to do except play bridge or go to the 
theatre. That is the tragedy of low pressure. 

Miss A. was a student at a university taking a 
special course; about 27 years of age; who felt 
all run down, no pep, and the only thing that could 
be found wrong was low blood pressure—down to 
90. It was simply a case of nervous temperament, 
anxiety, and undertaking too much. Not too much 
for an ordinary woman but too much for a nerv¬ 
ous type of individual. She was put to bed on the 
rest cure, given milk and orange juice, fattened 
up, rested up, and when her blood pressure re¬ 
turned to 118, she felt fine, resumed her studies 
at the university, and has been full of pep ever 
since. 

What are we going to do about low pressure? 
We must treat the nervous system. We must 
overcome worry, fear, and other sorts of nervous 
foolishness. These neurotic folks must learn to 
get right out of bed in the morning and go to work 


32 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


—regardless of feelings. These are the folks that 
need to Uve by an alarm clock. Steam up. If your 
doctor tells you there is nothing wrong, don’t let 
your nerves tyrannize over you. Get out and whip 
yourself into line, no matter how rotten you feel 
when you first wake up in the morning. Hustle 
out of bed, take some vigorous exercise, repeat 
over your favorite slogan a few times, and plunge 
into the fray. March up to the firing line; take 
your medicine; get busy. 

3. High Blood Pressure. But how about the 
high blood pressure? We see that when you have 
low pressure you feel rotten, and “all in,” but 
that there is no danger. You are perfectly safe; 
you can’t do yourself any harm; all you have to 
do is to drag yourself out and whip yourself into 
line. But what about the high blood pressure? 
Ah! That’s another story; that’s a horse of an¬ 
other color. Here’s where I must swing the red 
lantern. 

Some of you who made such a great record 
last year—did it on high blood pressure. You are 
becoming old before your time. Your pressure— 
say you are thirty or thirty-five—should be 
around 125, not over 130, most certainly not over 
135, and yet some of you if you were tested, or if 
you tried to get some new life insurance, would 
find your blood pressure to be 150, or maybe 160, 
or more. Now that spells trouble, trouble in the 
near future, but until the day it actually overtakes 
you, you feel fine. 

This high pressure, with all its attendant dan¬ 
gers, fills you with pep; you are surcharged with 
energy, you are a glutton for work. For just as 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


33 


low blood pressure is attended with no danger, but 
makes you feel rotten; so high blood pressure is 
attended with serious danger, but gives you a 
“grand and glorious feeling.’’ 

4. The Annual Health Audit. Now you can 
begin to see why we want you to go to the doctor 
every year to have not only your blood and urine 
tested, but also to have your blood pressure taken. 
You cannot go on what your nerves tell you about 
how you are feeling. This whole blood pressure 
business is deceptive. You feel badly when there 
is no danger; you feel in fine shape when you may 
be standing on the brink of ruin. 

You will ask me: are there no warning signals 
of approaching danger in high blood pressure? 
And I answer, no—not until the matter is far ad¬ 
vanced. After years and years, when it is too late 
for you to do anything to help yourself, you do 
begin to have dull headaches, attacks of dizziness, 
maybe attacks of stomach trouble; you may stag¬ 
ger in your walk a little; you may begin to feel a 
little tired in place of your accustomed energetic 
feeling, but then if you are tested out your blood 
pressure will be around 200—or maybe above. 
Then it is practically too late to do anything. 

At a time when knowledge of your high pres¬ 
sure would be of any service to you or to your 
doctor, that is the time you cannot get it by your 
own feelings and sensations. You have to get it 
.by testing with the blood pressure machine and 
that ought to be done once a year at least for 
every person who is over twenty-five years of age. 

So we see there is such a thing as “false pep” 
—pep that you get by mortgaging your future life 


34 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


—that is the high blood pressure pep. It works 
great as long as it lasts—you have a great run for 
your money, but you go up like a sky rocket and 
come down with a thud. 

You all know enough to go to your dentists 
once a year to have your teeth examined; but you 
have not been educated to go to your doctor once 
a year to have your blood, urine, and blood pres¬ 
sure checked up. We are never going to cut down 
this awful, premature death rate in this country 
from old age diseases, until we teach you to have 
amrnal health audits . 

5. Old Age Diseases. We take better care of 
our machines and our business than we do of our¬ 
selves. Just think of it: every year bankers, law¬ 
yers, doctors, business men and women, salesmen 
and what not, almost a hundred thousand dying 
like dogs around the age of forty-five, of old age 
diseases, diseases which they should not die of 
until they are sixty, seventy, or eighty years of 
age. I refer to such diseases as kidney trouble, 
heart failure, arteriosclerosis, etc. 

During the past thirty years the mortality 
from these old age diseases has enormously in¬ 
creased in the United States, and it should be re¬ 
membered that these premature breakdowns are 
not due entirely to overwork—they are more 
largely the result of over-worry and chronic 
poisoning—not merely the poisons found in our 
water and food, but more particularly the poisons 
which we take into our bodies unnecessarily with 
our food, in the way of condiments, in alcohol and 
tobacco, as well as the over-development and 
imperfect elimination of the poisons which we 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 35 

naturally make within our own bodies; and, I 
should further add that one of the chief causes of 
premature softening of the brain and hardening 
of the arteries is syphilis. 

But don’t forget that high blood pressure and 
the old age diseases are largely symptomless. 
You never know what is creeping upon you if you 
depend on your own feelings, for you can be 
standing on the brink of the grave and at the same 
time feel like a “million dollars.” 

IV. BRAIN STORMS—TEMPER 
EXPLOSIONS 

Emotional control is a good indicator of re¬ 
serve energy. The people who fly off the handle 
on the slightest provocation are candidates for 
nerve exhaustion or brain fag. Those individuals 
who are all the time indulging in temper explo¬ 
sions and “emotional sprees” are usually short 
on pep, they have little or no endurance. 

Some persons get mad easily simply because 
they are so intolerant of other folks and other 
people’s ideas. In other cases this emotional dis¬ 
turbance is due to sheer selfishness or pure “cuss¬ 
edness,” and there is still a third class who, be¬ 
cause they have a meager sense of humor, need 
only to get a little bit upset physically and they 
become exceedingly touchy. 

It is going to prove a dreary journey through 
this vale of tears if we are forced to live our life 
devoid of the enjoyment and relaxation of good 
humor. You should look for jokes; cultivate a 
taste for good stories, laugh at them, remember 


36 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


them, retell them. There is more pep on the 
sunny side of the road, and we must learn to take 
ourselves less seriously. Nobody else takes us se¬ 
riously—why should we so take ourselves ? 

1. Brain Storms. These violent and periodic 
explosions of temper are nothing more nor less 
than incipient brain storms, “emotional sprees.” 
The neurotic, hysterical individual should make a 
study of himself and persistently go about the 
business of mastering these temperamental ten¬ 
dencies. 

We become the slaves of our own emotional 
natures when we allow our nerves habitually to 
tyrannize over us. Learn how to discount your 
sensations, to ignore your feelings and ridicule 
your fears. It is the height of folly to allow your 
temperamental tendencies to rule, wreck, and ruin 
you. 

Some nervous individuals fall victims to pe¬ 
riods of alternate exaltation and depression. 
They are up in the clouds one day and down in 
the depths the next. If you suffer from this sort 
of thing, get it under control. Watch your step. 
Regulate your feelings and become the supreme 
master of your emotions. 

2. The “Blues.” While there is often a 
physical side to the blues—in fact in the majority 
of cases of periodic nervous depression, I think 
there is something physically wrong—still many 
of these cases are largely mental. These folks 
have just become victims of chronic fear. 

There is something peculiar, though, about the 
way these spells of depression run in cycles. The 
moon is full every twenty-eight days. Men and 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


37 


women have certain periods in their sex life, and 
sometimes, as the result of the chemical disturb¬ 
ances in the blood, at such time some persons find 
it doubly difficult to maintain their temperamental 
equilibrium. It is at the recurrence of these pe¬ 
riods that they tend to become unusually de¬ 
pressed. Now if there is something wrong phys¬ 
ically it ought to be looked into and corrected, and 
then we should make up our minds to put forth 
tremendous efforts to keep cheerful, think nor¬ 
mally, and behave naturally, even though it is 
at a time when we are due to have a periodic 
slump. 

3. Fear and Anxiety. Many a life has failed 
because of chronic fear and apprehension. Fear, 
doubt, and indecision constitute the explanation 
of many a career that has failed. It is over¬ 
worry and not overwork that breaks down so 
many well-meaning men and women. 

Eemember this: if a proposition has “got your 
goat,” to use a slang expression, you might just 
as well stop, for you are already licked before 
you start. You met defeat before you began to 
fight. 

Now we don’t have to be foolhardy and indif¬ 
ferent to common sense in order to overcome our 
fears. Caution is essential to safety and success, 
but very often fear-thought parades in the gar¬ 
ments of fore-thought, and thus we become vic¬ 
tims of the one while we think we are indulging 
in the virtues of the other. And in all our dis¬ 
cussions of fear and its paralyzing influences on 
human careers, its destructive tendencies as re¬ 
gards human happiness, let us remember this one 


38 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


essential truth —faith is the only known cure for 
fear . 

It doesn’t make any difference whether we are 
suffering from acute fear—stage fright—inability 
to tackle a proposition barehanded and with con¬ 
fidence ; or whether we are victims of chronic fear 
—just common, everyday, old-fashioned worry. 
And we must remember that fear will manifest 
itself in one person as nervous tension, in another 
as self-consciousness, and in still another as some 
sort of physical nervousness. 

4. Superstition. Superstition is another form 
of fear which we ordinarily laugh at, but never¬ 
theless many of us have it in some form or other. 
There are all kinds of sane, sensible people who 
don’t like to sit down to a table with thirteen, who 
don’t like to initiate big things on Friday the thir¬ 
teenth; they don’t like to have a black cat cross 
their path when they are starting out on a jour¬ 
ney ; and yet they in turn will laugh at people who 
think somebody is going to die because they break 
a looking-glass, or ridicule the individual who is 
afraid to walk under a ladder. Now, the sooner 
we come to look upon all this sort of thing as non¬ 
sense the better it will be for our health and hap¬ 
piness. Think of being afraid of the number thir¬ 
teen when the American flag has thirteen stripes 
on it and is the luckiest banner that ever floated 
over a free people. 

I well remember, when I was a little fellow, 
growing up down in Indiana, wearing that bag of 
asafetida and sulphur tied around my neck every 
spring to keep off diseases—it would surely work 
if the disease bugs could smell. But that was 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 39 

simply a relic of the days when our ancestors wore 
charms to drive off devils because they thought it 
was the devils that made them sick. 

5. Peevishness. A lot of folks fail in their 
life undertakings and suffer from chronic poor 
health and groan under the burdens of mental de¬ 
pression just because they are spoiled kids. They 
were not raised right by their parents. They 
don’t know how to stand disappointment or take 
defeat; they are poor losers. These are the peo¬ 
ple who are all the time getting their feelings 
hurt. They are usually mad when you meet them. 
They are perpetually peeved, and the world has 
little sympathy to offer these grown up spoiled 
and peevish children. 

Now a lot of this peevishness and sensitive¬ 
ness is nothing more nor less than Simon pure 
selfishness. We often have to tell our sensitive, 
nervous patients that they are selfish and self- 
centered, even at the risk of offending them. 

Now what are we going to do about these tem¬ 
peramental troubles ? There is just one sure cure 
for all this thing, and that is the practice of self- 
control on the one hand, and the indulgence of 
good humor on the other. If you have a grouch 
you need humor, humor, and then more humor. 
Come to look upon yourself as more or less of a 
joke and enjoy the joke along with the rest of the 
world, and pretty soon you will see even your 
physical health begin to improve. You will not 
only be more efficient but you will have more pep 
and what is still better, you will enjoy life. Make 
up your mind that you are going to become 
one of those pleasant, cheerful, smiling, half- 


40 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


humorous individuals everybody likes, who have a 
grand time going through life, and who are usu¬ 
ally able to achieve even more than their share of 
material success and prosperity. 

Mr. M. was about 35 years of age. From the 
standpoint of heredity he was of a neurotic ten¬ 
dency, but had never had any serious trouble un¬ 
til after a strenuous summer, more or less over¬ 
exertion, he had what his family physician called 
a nervous breakdown. He was slow in recovering 
from this slump, and as he began to get back to 
work, he discovered that he was afraid to do many 
things that he had formerly done without the least 
anxiety. 

For instance, he was afraid to go very far 
away from home alone. Under no circum¬ 
stances could he persuade himself to ride on a 
street-car alone. He would not go to the theatre 
alone. He suffered feelings of extreme fatigue, 
almost painful lassitude. He could hardly get out 
of bed in the morning. In fact, the more he slept 
the worse he felt when he waked up in the morn¬ 
ing. He described his feeling as ‘ 4 rotten’’—that 
he had lost his pep; that he was “all in.” 

Now, the careful investigation of this case 
proved that it was one of more or less chronic 
neurasthenia—nervous exhaustion—brain fag. In 
a case like this, even though it was tried, thyroid 
extract did no good. It soon started his heart go¬ 
ing fast, made him more nervous, and had to be 
discontinued. No medicine will do good in cases 
of this kind. It requires rest, plus training. We 
had to get him back to work gradually. First one 
hour a day; and then an hour and a half; then 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


41 


two hours, and so on. It required over a year to 
get this man back in the harness. Remember that 
in cases like this, it is not so much overwork as it 
is overworry that does the mischief. 

V. SKIN ELASTICITY AND THE 
PEP GLAND 

In the introduction I referred to the thyroid 
gland as the pep gland and I come back to this 
subject because I want to tell you about a very 
simple and interesting test you can all make upon 
yourselves and your friends for the purpose of 
finding out whether or not your pep glands are 
working well. 

The elasticity of the skin is a very reliable in¬ 
dicator of thyroid activity and hence it becomes 
a valuable pep barometer; one of the most simple 
and dependable of all signs which may be em¬ 
ployed to determine our energy pressure. 

1. The Pep Gland. The thyroid is, after all, 
the real pep gland, the regulator of our personal 
exhibition of energy. This gland is the mother of 
urge and the well-spring of ambition. In the case 
of the average American citizen, the thyroid is the 
chairman of the board of ductless gland or chem¬ 
ical directors. The circulation of the secretions of 
this gland in the blood is what determines our ex¬ 
hibition of pep. 

You should remember this important fact; if 
you are deficient in pep because your thyroid 
gland is deficient in its action, you are going to 
be forced to find some way to adjust yourself to 
that situation; but I warn you it is a mighty 
dangerous habit to take thyroid extract for the 


42 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


purpose of either reducing your weight, or of so 
stimulating yourself as to make you feel more 
peppy. We doctors are mighty skittish about 
using these powerful substances from the duct¬ 
less glands of lower animals. They are all right 
in their place but I warn you against their self¬ 
administration. 

To illustrate the great influence of the thyroid 
gland in controlling development and determining 
pep, I only need to tell you the story of a little 
animal that lives in the waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico. If you feed this little fellow on thyroid 
he gets so much pep and develops so much am¬ 
bition that he gets right out of the water and be¬ 
comes a land animal, and begins to breathe 
through a rudimentary pair of lungs, instead of 
through his gills. This has led some biologists 
to regard the thyroid gland as the regulator, gov¬ 
ernor, and dictator of evolution. One thing we 
can be sure of, it is the regulator, governor, and 
dictator of all that pertains to special undertaking 
and speedy success. 

The thyroid is the gland that enables you to 
put things over quickly and in a big way. It is 
the gland that determines the rate and degree 
with which energy is formed within the body and 
utilized by the mind. The thyroid dominant man 
or woman is a natural born pep machine. 

If your thyroid is a little over-active, you just 
naturally feel peppy because this excess of thyroid 
secretion increases the rate at which energy is 
liberated in your body. On the other hand, if you 
are sub-thyroid, you will find it well-nigh impos¬ 
sible to whip yourself up into an exhibition of 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


43 


energy; yon are just naturally deficient in that 
thing which we call “get up and get.” 

If you are super-thyroid you will have to 
watch your step. There is great danger of your 
overdoing, breaking down, burning out, or blow¬ 
ing up. 

2. The Skin Test. Now, I am going to give 
you a very simple little test of pep, or thyroid 
activity. The elasticity of the skin indicates the 
degree of thyroid activity. By this simple test I 
can at once determine whether you have an up-to- 
date, wide-awake, fully functioning thyroid gland; 
or whether you have one behind the times, one 
that is an old fogey and more or less down and 
out. 

This is the way you make the test. Take your 
right hand and pick up the skin on the back of 
your left hand, between your right thumb and 
forefinger. Hold the skin up in this ridge for a 
few seconds and then let go quickly. Now observe 
what happens. If this little fold of skin which 
you have pinched up and stretched away from the 
back of your hand returns instantly to its normal 
position—if it shows that it is highly elastic and 
the rebound is exceedingly quick, that means you 
have a normally active, or possibly an over-active 
thyroid gland. On the other hand, if this fold of 
skin which you have picked up returns slowly, 
sluggishly, and exhibits little or no elasticity, it 
means that you are sub-thyroid, that your thyroid 
gland is under-functioning—producing too little 
secretion. 

In the case of those persons who have a cer¬ 
tain type of goiter this pinched up fold of skin 


44 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


will always rebound quickly because they are suf¬ 
fering from over-activity of the thyroid, while 
in the case of most obese persons with sluggish 
temperaments and phlegmatic dispositions, this 
fold of skin will be found to rebound slowly be¬ 
cause they are victims of sub-thyroid activity— 
too little thyroid secretion. 

Now we must not form the idea that you have 
to have a highly active thyroid gland in order to 
achieve success in life. There are plenty of suc¬ 
cessful men and women in this country who do 
not have dominant thyroids. There is an oppor¬ 
tunity to succeed in life even if one’s thyroid is 
sluggish, as there are other glands that compen¬ 
sate for this deficiency and help us to get along 
fairly well in spite of this shortage. 

You can all practice this test on yourselves 
and while it is not an infallible barometer of push, 
pep, and ability; it is, nevertheless, a very reliable 
and illuminating test and one which I regularly 
employ in my study of the ductless gland behavior 
of my patients. There is only one more reliable 
test which could be made along this line and that 
is the so-called metabolism test, which is one of 
considerable technicality, whereas the skin elas¬ 
ticity test is a very simple one and one quickly 
made. 

In contemplating this test, simply remember 
that the quicker the skin jumps back after it is 
pinched up on the back of the hand, the quicker 
you will be able to go out in the world and make a 
success of life; but, as I have indicated, don’t be 
discouraged if your skin seems to have little India 
rubber, because the thyroid gland is not the only 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


45 


influential factor in connection with happiness and 
success. Nevertheless, it will prove true the more 
slowly the skin jumps back the more plodding you 
will have to do, the more pains you will have to 
take with your job, and the more steadily you will 
have to keep at it, for you will not be able to put 
some things over as quickly as some of the hyper¬ 
thyroid folks. You will be able to carry on—per¬ 
haps not in the same brilliant manner that some 
of your competitors do—but you will get there 
just the same in the end if you will stick to the 
game, but you will have to make up your mind to 
fight harder if you propose to win. 

It is believed in the case of those successful in¬ 
dividuals who are deficient in thyroid that it is 
the secretion of the adrenals that compensates, 
that helps them to succeed, although they are 
deficient in this inherent cleverness, dash, and 
brilliancy. 

In the case of some of you whose hair is be¬ 
ginning to turn gray, your skin naturally rebounds 
more slowly. Old age is always accompanied by 
slowing down of the thyroid activity and conse¬ 
quent lessening of skin elasticity, so that this test 
is not of the same practical value when applied to 
men and women over forty or fifty years of age 
that it is when applied to those of twenty or thirty 
years. The older you are, the less the significance 
that should be attached to the skin test. 

Mr. A. was a young man about 20 years of 
age, who suddenly lost interest in his work and in 
some studies he was pursuing in a special school. 
Within a few months ’ time he lost all desire to go 
out with young people and have a good time, as 


46 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


was formerly his custom. He was much less talk¬ 
ative about the house, and his parents became 
much concerned about the lad. A careful study 
of this case revealed that all his mental and phys¬ 
ical operations were considerably slowed down, 
and disclosed but one important fact—the fact 
which was shown by the metabolism test, and 
which suggested that his thyroid gland was not 
acting normally. 

Now this young man was a typical case of loss 
of pep, coming on rather suddenly and myste¬ 
riously, but within three months, as the result of 
the careful administration of thyroid extract, he 
was completely cured, became normal, engaged 
with enthusiasm in his work and play, and re¬ 
sumed his studies. In fact, became in every way 
a normal youth. 

Now as to just what happened here, it is dif¬ 
ficult to say. It has been some time since he had 
more thyroid, after his first course of three 
months, and yet he continues to perform in a nor¬ 
mal manner. This is a case illustrative of the way 
in which changes in the ductless gland secretions 
can so profoundly affect the health and well-being 
of the average individual. 

VI. VITAL CAPACITY-LUNG 
CAPACITY 

It is through the lungs that we take our oxy¬ 
gen into the body for maintaining the draft in the 
vital fires of life, and it is out through the lungs 
that we exhale the smoke which arises from the 
combustion of food in the body. This smoke, it 
is true, is invisible—it is carbonic acid gas—but it 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


47 


is none the less the product of combustion within 
the body. Now the size of the lungs, many 
authorities believe, has a direct relation to 
one’s vitality, energy, and pep, and this idea 
of lung capacity is commonly spoken of as vital 
capacity . 

1. Good Chests. You are supposed to have a 
good chest if you are in good health and if you are 
a normal breather. Even life insurance com¬ 
panies are interested in your chest measurements. 
You are not supposed to be in good physical form 
if you have a measure around your waist that is 
larger than around your chest. It means you are 
a shallow breather on the one hand, or an over¬ 
eater on the other. 

Now, there is no good physiological reason 
that I know of why women should breathe differ¬ 
ently than men. If a woman is properly dressed 
and is not laced up in tight clothing, or has not 
learned bad habits of breathing, she breathes in 
general just as a man does. 

Of course, you know how lung capacity is 
tested. You breathe into an apparatus that 
measures the number of cubic inches you are able 
to exhale after you have filled your lungs to ca¬ 
pacity. We also have machines for measuring 
the strength of the lungs or the strength of the 
diaphragm. 

Now, the lung capacity is supposed to be of 
considerable value when it comes to estimating 
one’s vital capacity, that is, one’s general capac¬ 
ity for health and ability to resist disease. I am 
not disposed to attach so much importance to it 
as I do to some other things we are discussing, 


48 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


though I do recognize that it is a valuable test and 
a useful bit of information, and since it is easy to 
secure, it becomes one of those simple and prac¬ 
tical things which are entitled to be looked upon 
as barometers of pep. 

2. Vital Capacity Standards. The standards 
for lung capacity vary according to sex and 
height. For instance, the lung capacity for a man 
five feet seven inches tall is usually given as about 
225 cubic inches; while a woman five feet six 
inches tall is expected to have only about 150 
cubic inches lung capacity. You will be interested 
in knowing that women range, according to their 
height, from 100 cubic inches to about 200 cubic 
inches lung capacity. 

The value of this is not merely that it pertains 
wholly to the lungs, although good chest capacity 
certainly is of value in warding off tuberculosis 
and may be of some value even in the prevention 
of pneumonia. Sometimes the breathing capacity 
is interfered with, not only by wrong habits of 
breathing, but by obstructions in the nose and 
throat, such as adenoids, polyps, enlarged tonsils, 
etc. Certainly every individual should have his 
breathing apparatus, his whole respiratory mech¬ 
anism, in good trim, well developed, and fully 
functioning. 

Personally, I do not altogether agree with the 
tables that are prepared for reference in gymna¬ 
siums, regarding lung capacity for women. I 
think a woman ought to have almost as great a 
lung capacity as a man. I think she makes a 
poor showing because she is, as a rule, so poorly 
developed physically. I think that a woman five 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 49 

feet six inches tall, instead of having a lung ca¬ 
pacity of only 150 cubic inches, should reach 
nearer 200 cubic inches, in comparison with the 
lung capacity of 225 for a man five feet seven 
inches tall. 

VII. MAN AND THE MICROBE 

If we are in good health, if our pep pressure is 
at the right level, we are supposed to have a cer¬ 
tain inherent power to ward off disease—to 
dodge sickness. But in spite of all we can do, 
in spite of good heredity, good hygiene and 
good sanitation, we find that our mechanism is 
subject to numerous and repeated minor break¬ 
downs. We are all more or less subject to minor 
complaints which overtake us every now and 
then, and interfere with the even tenor of our 
careers. 

I think it was the late Bob Ingersoll who said 
if he had been making this world he would have 
made health contagious instead of disease. But 
he was just exposing his ignorance, for that is just 
what the Almighty did. Health is much more 
contagious than disease. You get health out of 
every thought you think and from every muscular 
contraction, but you have to cultivate disease. 
Disease microbes are not ordinarily attracted to 
a healthy individual, though of course that does 
not always hold good in the case of severe epi¬ 
demics like influenza. 

I have a friend who, for thirty years, has 
been trying three times a day to get dyspepsia, 
but he hasn’t got it yet. He still has a good 
digestion. 


50 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


When I say that man is mightier than the 
microbe, I mean a normal, healthy individual, 
under ordinary circumstances. In this connec¬ 
tion, let me call your attention to the fact that 
moss does not grow on a healthy tree, it only 
grows on the shady side of a dead or dying tree. 
I freely admit that most of our ability to resist 
disease—to live healthy lives in the midst of a 
host of unfriendly microbes—is due to heredity. 
Heredity is, after all, the important thing in good 
health, long life, and disease resistance. 

1. Frequent Colds. Some folks seem to take 
cold just as easily and naturally as water runs 
down hill, but as a rule there is an explanation for 
this sort of behavior. I will admit I don’t know 
just what to do for those of us who have an ordi¬ 
nary cold for a week or ten days once a year. I 
have never been able to find any way always to 
avoid this annual visitation, though I have, in re¬ 
cent years, come to believe in the value of taking 
a hypodermic injection of mixed vaccines when 
you first come down with a cold; that is, provided 
you can get it within the first twenty-four hours. 
It will often so abort the attack that you will be 
all over it in three days, without letting it run a 
week or two. 

If you are a victim of repeated colds, or 
chronic cold, have your nose and throat thoroughly 
looked into. Get rid of adenoids, tonsils, and any¬ 
thing else that is abnormal in your breathing 
mechanism. Then see that your bowels move 
thoroughly. Don’t over-eat; dress properly, get 
a proper amount of moisture in the air of your 
working rooms, have plenty of fresh air at night, 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 51 

keep your skin healthy and active by plenty of 
warm, cleansing baths and tonic cold baths, and 
you will get over your colds, unless you have a 
chronic sinus infection and carry the 6 ‘bugs” the 
year around in your head. I don’t know of any 
royal road to curing colds, I don’t have any in¬ 
fallible remedy, and space forbids going farther 
into the details of their treatment. 

2. The White Blood Cells. You will perhaps 
remember, when they taught you about the blood 
cells in the physiology class at school, they told 
you mostly about the red cells, that carry the oxy¬ 
gen from the lungs to the tissues and how they 
carry the smoke, the carbon dioxid, back to the 
lungs where it is thrown out of the body when you 
exhale. 

But they didn’t tell you much about the white 
cells, those sturdy little policemen who make up 
the “standing army of the interior.” These are 
the little fellows that go out and eat up the disease 
germs when they gain an entrance to the body, 
and their work is just as necessary to our health 
as that of the red cells. You should understand 
how to encourage them in their work, especially 
at such times as you may be coming down with a 
cold, or some form of sickness or infection. It is 
a great mistake, at such times, to follow the old 
practice of taking whiskey and quinine, for of all 
the substances known none are more able, quickly 
and completely, to paralyze the white blood cells 
in their effort to capture and destroy the disease 
microbes than whiskey and quinine, even when 
taken singly, let alone when you use them in this 
double-barreled fashion. 


52 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


When you are coming down with a cold now¬ 
adays, instead of giving you whiskey and quinine, 
we give you soda and lemonade. You take a glass 
of ordinary lemonade and stir into it a level tea¬ 
spoonful of common baking soda, and drink it 
down while it effervesces. In this way we are 
giving you a remedy that helps the white cells in 
their work of resisting infection, and it also helps 
to overcome the acidity of your blood which is us¬ 
ually greatly increased at such times. 

Your red blood cells are very small. It takes 
three thousand of them, in a row side by side, to 
equal one inch. You are each supposed to have 
about thirty thousand million red cells, but you 
only have about sixty million white cells. Now 
these white cells lead a very precarious existence; 
their calling is a hazardous one, and their average 
length of life is less than twenty-four hours. And 
all this means that, taking the red and white cells 
together, we have to have created within our 
bodies every twenty-four hours about seven hun¬ 
dred million blood cells; that is, thirty million an 
hour, a half million a minute, or about eight thou¬ 
sand every time the clock ticks. 

3. Headaches. It is surprising how many 
persons are habitual sufferers from some form of 
headache. Now with the exception of migraine, 
practically all these headaches are curable. 
Search out the cause and diligently go about re¬ 
moving the influences from your life which are 
responsible for these recurring headaches. Among 
the common causes of headaches are worry, in¬ 
creased acidity, impoverished blood, over-eating, 
anemia, chronic constipation, impure air, nervous 


THE BAROMETERS OF PEP 


53 


exhaustion; and these are only a few of the causes 
—they by no means exhaust the list. In the case 
of migraine or nervous sick headache; about one- 
third of the women who suffer from this affliction 
get over it wholly or partially when they pass the 
menopause—the change of life. In the case of 
the others, they can only make a study of them¬ 
selves and learn how to lessen the frequency and 
severity of their attacks. 

At any rate, whether you are a man or woman, 
try and stop these annoying headaches, and if you 
are not successful, if you are an unfortunate vic¬ 
tim of migraine, make up your mind to make the 
best of the situation. Don’t allow yourself to de¬ 
velop into a chronic whiner, be prepared to make 
the best of your troubles and afflictions. 

Most backaches are due to lowered nerve tone. 
Nerves are also responsible for much of the 
chronic fatigue of many high strung individuals. 

Miss M. was a stenographer, private secretary 
to a business executive, and she waked up one 
morning filled with the fear that she was not go¬ 
ing to be able to do her work that day. The prob¬ 
abilities are that she had some disconcerting 
dream, although she was not aware of the dream 
and did not remember any of its details, but she 
said she felt as if she had had a nightmare of some 
sort. She went down to work and by noon began 
to cry, and took on so that they had to send her 
home. She developed a whole flock of fears within 
ten days, and the result was that she was a semi¬ 
invalid for over a year before her friends made 
up their minds that something must be done, and 
saw that she received medical attention. 


54 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Now this was a plain case of fear, probably 
associated with partial nervous exhaustion of a 
physical sort from overwork, and it required 
about six months to educate and train her so that 
she would go back to work in spite of her fatigue, 
in spite of the fact that she had no pep, but after 
six months at work, her pep gradually returned. 
Of course, all this time she was treated in a phys¬ 
ical way, as regards the regulation of diet, exer¬ 
cise, work, rest, etc., but I use the case as an 
illustration of loss of pep without the presence of 
any actual physical disease, due entirely to fear, 
worry, and anxiety. 


PART II 

THE CULTIVATION OF PEP- 
HEALTH ENERGY 

W HILE heredity is an important factor in 
health, it is not by any means the only one. 
Our personal habits of living have a whole lot to 
do with pep. Hygiene is the art of living; it has 
to do with our personal health practices. Sanita¬ 
tion represents our environment. We can do 
much to prevent disease by paying attention to 
the water supply, milk supply, sewage disposal 
and other sanitary problems. In this way many 
diseases, like typhoid fever, are prevented and it 
is our duty to see that every community is prop¬ 
erly safeguarded in these respects. 

It is the doctor’s business to see that human 
beings live as long as possible on this planet. You 
know they tell a story of a poor fellow who passed 
off the stage of action in this world and who was 
denied admission through the Pearly Gates; when 
he protested that he had sincerely endeavored to 
live a proper life for an earthly pilgrim and that 
he had been led to believe that he would be wel¬ 
come to Glory when he departed this life, the 
celestial guardians condescended to look over the 
list of eligibles for the second time, and when they 
returned, they opened the Pearly Gates and bade 
our pilgrim enter, and in doing so, said to him: 
“Why, yes, brother, your name is on the list, but 
it is away down. Man, you are not due up here 
55 


56 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


for thirty years yet. Who was your doctor?” 
You see, the men of my profession feel a personal 
responsibility, not for keeping you out of Heaven 
when your work is done, but for keeping you here 
on earth, healthy, happy, and peppy as long as 
possible. 

I. THE OUTDOOR LIFE 

All things equal, the more we live outdoors or 
work outdoors, the better will be our exhibition of 
pep. It really appears that man was made to live 
in a garden, and that thousands of people are 
committing suicide on the instalment plan because 
of their excessive indoor living. We have every 
reason to believe that human beings were des¬ 
tined by old Mother Nature to live at least a 
hundred years, and one of the reasons we do 
not live longer is that we spend so much of 
our time in poorly ventilated, badly lighted, 
living rooms; and still further that we do not 
have sufficient ventilation in our sleeping rooms 
at night. 

We must not overlook the value of sunlight as 
a disinfectant. No known microbe can live for five 
minutes in a direct ray of sunshine. 

1. Health in the Breeze. A gentle breeze is 
highly invigorating. Outdoor living and outdoor 
sleeping possess some value other than the bene¬ 
fit that accompanies the abundance of fresh air. 
A breeze blowing on the face is stimulating and 
refreshing. That is one reason why we fan 
ourselves on a hot day or rock ourselves in a 
chair to produce a gentle movement of air over 
the face. 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


57 


And in this connection, in view of the fact that 
man was designed by nature to he an outdoor ani¬ 
mal, we must not overlook the fact that many of 
our most deadly diseases are purely house dis¬ 
orders—such maladies as colds, pneumonia, 
16 flu, ’ ’ bronchitis, and tuberculosis. Darkness and 
disease go together. Health and sunlight are 
companions. Though we should remember that it 
is physical activity in the open air that is most 
desirable, there is very little, from a health stand¬ 
point, to be gained from lolling about the beach 
getting an overdose of tan, all the while remain¬ 
ing more or less inactive physically. 

There is such a thing as overdoing even sun¬ 
light, and excessive sunburn is not at all desir¬ 
able. The ideal is to be reasonably active in the 
open air and in this way an increased amount of 
oxygen is taken up from the lungs and used to 
contribute to more thorough oxidizing or burning 
up of the poisons and waste matter accumulated 
within the body. 

2. Ventilating the Lungs. It is astonishing 
how few people know how to breathe. So many 
of us lead a sedentary life that we have just about 
forgotten how to breathe deeply. Too many people 
breathe just on the top of the lungs as they would 
if they had some article of clothing tightly con¬ 
stricting the waist; and, by the way, we should 
remember that women have no good reason for 
breathing differently than men unless it results 
from their being in some way hampered by im¬ 
proper clothing. 

What is the real value of breathing exercises? 
They are highly beneficial to digestion. They are 


58 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


useful in the prevention of constipation. They in¬ 
crease circulation and they are of great help to 
lazy livers, but breathing exercises, as such, do 
not in any way increase the amount of oxygen 
absorbed into the blood, though they do help in 
improving the lung capacity. In order to in¬ 
crease the amount of oxygen absorbed one must 
engage in actual exercise and increase the demand 
for oxygen on the part of the tissues throughout 
the body. 

Never mind about all the fantastic systems of 
breathing exercises. Just see that your chest and 
abdomen both expand when you breathe. The 
greatest expansion being about the middle of the 
trunk; that is the way a newborn baby breathes, 
or a young animal. 

When we talk about breathing, we must not 
overlook the value of hearty laughter. Some 
people, by the time they are 35 years of age, have 
just about forgotten how to laugh normally and 
naturally. They smile sometimes, grin occa¬ 
sionally, and now and then emit a few grunts, but 
how seldom do they indulge in a real explosive 
paroxysm of hearty laughter. It is good for 
you. It not only sweeps the cobwebs out of 
the brain but it sends the blood tingling through 
a thousand miles of living arteries and veins 
which are coiled up in, and wound about, your 
body. 

3. Spring Tonics. When March and April 
come round each year, we begin to have skin erup¬ 
tions, itching scalps, rough hides, and more or 
less of a general indisposition to think hard or to 
indulge in energetic muscular exercise. What’s 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


59 


the trouble? We have been living an unnatural 
life all winter, shut up too much indoors, perhaps 
not eating enough green stuff in our daily diet; 
and as a result of all these things put together, 
we are considerably below par as the winter ebbs 
away. This is what led our ancestors to go in 
quest of sassafras roots in the woods, or blood 
purifiers at the drug store. But you don’t get 
blood purification out of a bottle or a pill box. 
You get it out of the fresh air and sunshine; from 
good food and plenty of water. 

A little outdoor exercise is away ahead of sar¬ 
saparilla and other patent nostrums as a blood 
purifier. Can you remember when they gave you 
sulphur and molasses each spring? And it was 
not so bad. Sulphur is a pretty good laxative and 
it helped for a day or two anyway. But that is 
not the way to purify the blood. Eat right, live 
right, work right, and flush your system with 
plenty of good, pure drinking water, and you 
will have good blood. 

The best spring tonic is outdoor exercise and 
sane hygienic living. Of course, it helps if we 
stop putting impurities in the way of poisonous 
foods, drinks, or drugs into the system. 

4. Temperature and Moisture. When it 
comes to indoor work, especially during the win¬ 
ter, we must not overlook the importance of 
ventilation, temperature, and moisture. Indoor 
office and factory workers and others who must 
spend much of their life in some sort of a building, 
should learn how best to supply themselves with 
proper fresh air, and to work in the temperature 
that is most ideal for the sort of thing they are 


60 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


doing. The question of moisture is perhaps of the 
greatest importance. Many of the winter colds 
and other disturbances among indoor workers are 
due to the fact that we have too little water in the 
air we breathe. If the temperature of our work¬ 
ing rooms can be kept below 70° F., better some¬ 
where between 65° and 68°, and if proper moisture 
can be supplied, the best possible conditions will 
be provided for good health for indoor workers 
during the winter season. 

We ought also to learn, if we work all day in 
warm, well heated and sometimes overheated 
buildings, that it would be well for us to dress 
rather lightly; in fact, to wear very little more 
than one would wear during the summer, and then 
when going outdoors, to put on suitable winter 
wraps for protection. Many indoor workers find 
it advisable to wear the same light undercloth¬ 
ing in the winter that they do in the summer, and 
make up for this with heavier wraps for outdoor 
wear. 

Humidity is determined by a double thermom¬ 
eter. That is an instrument with one bulb dry 
and one bulb wet. If we can keep the temperature 
between 65° and 70° F., and have a relative humid¬ 
ity ranging anywhere between 40 and 60 per cent, 
as shown on this sort of a thermometer, we have 
conditions just about ideal from a health stand¬ 
point. We must not overlook the fact that when 
humidity falls much below 40 per cent, the air be¬ 
comes very irritating to the nose, throat, and 
lungs; also, if the humidity goes much above 70 
per cent, the atmosphere becomes sultry, just as 
it feels on a hot summer day, when the air is sur- 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


61 


charged with moisture. Moisture is supplied to 
the air in our homes by large evaporating pans in 
connection with the furnace. It is also turned 
into a room as live steam from heating coils, and 
small amounts can be secured by evaporating pans 
of water on top of the radiators. 

In looking for a fad, in planning for your play, 
try and form an attachment for some sort of re¬ 
creation that will take you out-of-doors. Moving 
pictures and theatres are real diversion to most 
people, but it is unfortunate that so many seden¬ 
tary workers come to find most of their amuse¬ 
ment and recreation indoors. Their health would 
benefit so much more if they would go in pursuit 
of some sort of a fad that would take them out¬ 
doors through field and forest, by rivers, and over 
hills; in this way not only would the mind be di¬ 
verted, and the nerves relaxed, but the body 
wholesomely invigorated as a result of these phys¬ 
ical activities in the open air. 

II. EATING FOR HEALTH 

Good digestion is a wonderful thing. In fact 
it is absolutely essential to pep. You don’t know 
how to appreciate a good stomach unless you have 
once had dyspepsia. You know they tell a story 
about Brother Rockefeller a few years back, when 
he was having considerable trouble with his stom¬ 
ach. One day he strolled down the road in his 
estate to where he found an Irish laborer sitting 
on a bridge eating his noonday lunch. Now the 
Irishman had hard boiled eggs, bologna sausage, 
pickles, cheese and rye bread, and when Mr. 
Rockefeller looked at the layout it gave him the 


62 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


gastric shivers. Thinking over his own stomach 
troubles, he said to the Irishman: “Pat, I’d give 
anything in the world if I had a stomach like 
yours.” You know it is hard to get ahead of 
an Irishman, so Pat quickly came back and said: 
“Ar, Mr. Rockefeller, you have already got all 
the working man’s money and now you want his 
digistion, too.” 

Thousands of ambitious men and women 
every year break down prematurely and go to 
the scrap heap because they don’t know how to 
eat. Farmers know how to feed their cattle, but 
the average human being doesn’t know how to 
feed himself. There is an art of eating which 
everyone should study, and learn how to adapt 
the scientific principles of feeding to their own 
individual needs. Not everyone is alike. In a 
general way, all good foods are good for all peo¬ 
ple, but there is a certain amount of truth in the 
old saying that “What is one person’s food is an¬ 
other’s poison,” so that the matter of our own 
personal experience in the realm of nutrition must 
be intelligently utilized in connection with what 
the science of dietetics has to suggest as beneficial 
for the human stomach. 

1. Food Values. When it comes to diet, one 
of the first things I want to impress upon you is 
the fact that we put food into our systems to burn 
it up, to liberate its heat and energy, just as fire¬ 
men shovel coal into the furnace. Every ounce 
of food that we eat contains a definite number of 
heat units— calories. 

If you are going to conserve your pep, or to 
increase it if you are shy, you must learn food 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


63 


values. The average individual not engaged in 
hard physical labor requires about 2000 calories a 
day in order to be properly supplied with heat 
and energy and to replace the worn parts of the 
body with new matter. Of course, some need 
more and some less, depending on the season, 
temperature, occupation, size of the individual, 
etc. 

Now let me hasten to explain to you that a 
calorie represents the amount of heat required to 
raise a certain quantity of water one degree in 
temperature, but I can best illustrate to you, in a 
practical way, what calories are by telling you 
that a good thick slice of bread contains 100 cal¬ 
ories ; that a good old-fashioned square of butter 
contains about 100 calories; a big orange contains 
almost 100 calories; and a small steak contains 
about 100 calories; a glass of fairly rich milk 
contains 100 calories. Now you can get a simple 
food table of this sort and in a short time become 
familiar with the number of calories contained 
in the average serving of the commonly used 
foods, so that you know about what you are eat¬ 
ing without having to observe your stomach so 
closely as to get indigestion. (See calorie table in 
the appendix.) 

Don’t forget that if you are going to watch 
your stomach all the time, if you are going to spy 
on it, it is certainly going back on you, for no first 
class stomach will do good work if it is spied on. 

Also remember that there is no such thing as 
nerve food, brain food, etc. Of course, I know 
we meet with people all the time that, as we get 
better acquainted with them, seem to stand in 


64 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


need of some special sort of brain food—we even 
feel the need of such things ourselves at certain 
times. Nevertheless, there is no such thing. All 
good food is brain food. You cannot make any 
special food make up for mental laziness, or coun¬ 
teract the influence of the hookworm. Neither 
fish nor calves’ brains will make up for deficiency 
in gray matter; celery is not a nerve food; and no 
other sort of food, in and of itself, is going to give 
us unearned pep. 

If you are overweight you are suffering from 
a great handicap, not only in the matter of en¬ 
joying good health, but also in the attainment of 
reasonable success in life. A lot of people fail to 
enjoy life because they are carrying around such 
a tremendous amount of excess baggage in the 
shape of over bodily weight; and while this ten¬ 
dency to put on too much flesh is in some cases a 
matter of hereditary predisposition, and in others 
due to the taking of too little exercise, we must re¬ 
member in the average case that it is simply a 
question of overeating. If you have this tendency 
to overweight, if you are a sedentary worker, then 
watch your step when it comes to diet. See that 
you don’t habitually eat too much. 

2. The Stomach. The first essential of good 
digestion is a good appetite. If you are hungry, 
all things equal, you are going to digest your food 
fairly well. A good appetite ordinarily means 
good digestive juice to handle the food when it 
reaches the stomach. 

Probably the second essential of good digestion 
is proper mastication of food before it is swal¬ 
lowed. Now, I don’t take much stock in these 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


65 


fantastic and faddish teachings about chewing 
your food until you swallow it in spite of yourself, 
to reject all solid particles, etc., etc. We have al¬ 
together too much constipation in this country to 
be misled by any such false advice. On the other 
hand, it is equally foolish to swallow great 
chunks of food and expect the stomach to be able 
to digest them in a reasonable time. There is 
good health in sane mastication, remembering 
that the human being is not like some forms of 
crocodiles that have teeth in their throats and 
stomachs. Our grinding mechanism is in the 
mouth and our food should be reasonably pulver¬ 
ized before we swallow it. 

There is no question in my mind but that we 
are coming to eat food that is too highly concen¬ 
trated. As a nation we are beginning to suffer 
universally from chronic constipation which re¬ 
sults not only from shallow breathing, deficient 
exercise, and chronic worry, but also from a fail¬ 
ure to provide sufficient bulk in our daily diet. It 
is a good thing to remember every time we sit 
down to eat a meal, to arrange also to swallow a 
cellulose broom to sweep the meal out of the sys¬ 
tem. We accomplish this by eating liberally of 
fruit and vegetables—and bran, if necessary. 

3. Stomach Trouble in the Head. When it 
comes to digestion, we must not overlook the in¬ 
fluence of the mind on the process of nutrition. 
Nothing will upset the stomach so quickly as a 
bad state of mind. Unfortunately the stomach 
seems to be on a sort of party line nervous tele¬ 
phone system, one very much like those farmer 
party lines where each subscriber has a different 

5 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


ring, and so when the stomach bell begins to 
jingle, you want always to ask, “ who’s talking?” 
Nine times out of ten when the stomach hollers, 
it is the appendix, the gallbladder, or just nerves 
that is responsible for the disturbance. 

Now, while most of the stomach trouble is re¬ 
flex from these other disturbed or diseased neigh¬ 
boring organs, there is a real form of indigestion 
which we doctors call nervous dyspepsia, and 
which a large number of people have. These are 
the people who are highly irritable, exceedingly 
temperamental, and who are always suffering 
from nerves in one form or another. No matter 
what they eat, every so often they are bound to 
have a bilious attack, a spell of indigestion, or 
something else along this line. They are never 
going to get over their stomach trouble until they 
improve their nerve tone, until they get their 
minds off themselves; and these are the people 
we speak of as having stomach trouble in the head. 

4. Food Factors. You should know some¬ 
thing about the different food factors that go to 
make up your daily diet, such as proteins, starch, 
sugar, fats, salts, and cellulose. Water in vary¬ 
ing quantities is also found in all our food stuffs. 
The protein element is the part that builds mus¬ 
cle, the element that replaces the wear and tear to 
the body itself, and our common protein foods are 
lean meat, white of egg, cheese, and the nitrog¬ 
enous or gluten element of bread and other 
cereals. 

Proteins are essential foods, very essential to 
life, but when overeaten they are mischief makers. 
They do not burn up into smoke and water like 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 67 

the starches, sugars, and fats, but leave behind 
clinkers and cinders which can overtax the kid¬ 
neys, and clog up the system. It is essential, 
therefore, that we do not overeat of these ele¬ 
ments ; it is in this connection that most business 
people make their greatest blunder: they eat too 
much meat while they eat too. little of the fruits 
and vegetables . 

No doubt you have heard about vitamins . 
They are substances found in foods, which, while 
not directly concerned in the nutritive value of the 
food, are highly important to health in that they 
serve to prevent certain diseases. Don’t worry 
about buying vitamins at the drug store. If you 
think you need any just take some milk, or an 
orange, or any other raw food. 

Oranges, tomatoes, and milk contain practical¬ 
ly all the known vitamins, and if you are living on 
a diet that has a good variety of foods in it you 
will be getting all the vitamins you need. In the 
springtime, if you think you are missing any, eat 
a yeast cake or two. But it is not necessary to 
take yeast regularly in order to get your vitamins. 
If you need them it is only necessary to eat a lit¬ 
tle raw food to supply that need. 

The starches, sugars, and fats furnish you 
with heat and energy. They are the real coal for 
the furnace. The salts are necessary for the bones 
and for other chemical purposes in the body. The 
cellulose is the broom we eat to sweep the meal 
out. Cellulose gives bulk and prevents constipa¬ 
tion. The bran of the wheat is typical cellulose. 
Many of our vegetables, like cabbage, are largely 
cellulose. 


63 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


It is not necessary to pay much attention to 
food combinations. Most of you who have good 
digestion and chew your food fairly well will get 
along without indigestion. Those with sick stom¬ 
achs will do well to consider combinations, but the 
question of food combinations is one largely imag¬ 
inary when it comes to well stomachs. 

4. Mistakes Made at Meals. Before leaving 
the subject of diet and digestion, it might be 
well to call attention to a number of common 
mistakes made at meals. I may mention the 
following: 

a. The number of meals. A great many per¬ 
sons who have a tendency toward obesity would do 
well to eat two meals a day instead of three. Re¬ 
member that you need a certain number of calor¬ 
ies each day to carry on the work of the body, to 
give you energy and to maintain your weight at a 
proper level. As a rule, it makes no difference to 
old Mother Nature whether you take this food in 
one, two, or three meals. Certain nervous indi¬ 
viduals will not do well on two meals a day, they 
will feel faint if they skip a meal; others with 
slowly emptying stomachs will do much better on 
two meals. I have found that about half of my 
patients do well on two meals a day and the other 
half do better on three. 

b. Overeating . The majority of you overeat. 
Of course, some of you undereat. I always hesi¬ 
tate to mention this in public, for fear someone 
who is undereating will take my warning too se¬ 
riously, go home and start on a ten days’ fast, 
while the rest of you fat folks will sit and laugh 
at my advice and profit little by it. 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


69 


I think overeating is sometimes encouraged by 
over seasoning. We have cultivated an unfortu¬ 
nate artificial taste in this country. We want to 
have all our foods so highly seasoned; and you 
should remember that some of this seasoning is 
really injurious. It is bad, not only for the di¬ 
gestion, but it is hard on the liver. Vinegar, for 
instance, when taken in large quantities, is almost 
as hard on the liver as alcohol. Pepper and mus¬ 
tard are far from being harmless. In fact the 
whole question of flavoring, seasoning, and condi¬ 
ments can be summed up in this one statement : 
Look- out for foods that are hot when they are 
cold! 

c. Soft foods . We don’t eat enough hard 
food to keep our teeth in good shape and to keep 
up the circulation in the gums so as to prevent 
pyorrhea. We eat too many soups and slops. 
You know if they feed a cow on distillery swill her 
teeth will drop out. We should eat more hard 
food. 

d. Eating "between meals. The majority of 
people, I think, do better if they eat their regular 
two or three meals a day, and refrain from putting 
tidbits in the stomach between meals. You can 
drink lemonade between meals; but ice cream 
soda, fruit, nuts, and chocolate creams—taken 
between meals, certainly are not good for the vast 
majority, and, sooner or later, you probably will 
have to pay the price, if you indulge in this sort 
of thing. 

e. Fruits versus meat. I have already sug¬ 
gested that we eat too much meat and too little 
fruit. If you don’t like fruit, cultivate a taste for 


70 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


it. Eat something green with each meal—that is, 
something raw, uncooked. At least, get some¬ 
thing raw once a day. In the winter time, if you 
can’t get anything else, eat raw prunes. Per¬ 
haps it would be well to soak them before eating. 
I gave this advice in a lecture one time, to a wom¬ 
an’s club, and shortly thereafter I got a letter 
from a lady, begging me, in the future when I ad¬ 
vised people to eat raw prunes, to tell them to 
soak them first. I don’t know what happened, 
though I imagine she had raw prunes for break¬ 
fast, a glass of water for dinner, and a swell feel¬ 
ing for supper. Remember it’s the row stuff that 
contains the vitamins . 

But, whatever you do, don’t make a fad of diet¬ 
etics. Don’t make a religion of eating. Keep 
your mind off your stomach. As I have already 
said, no first class stomach will do good work if 
you spy on it. Buttermilk is a good food—better 
for grown folks than sweet milk, but don’t make 
a fad of it. Don’t expect to live a hundred years 
because you drink buttermilk. 

III. THE STREAM OF LIFE 

Next to outdoor living and good digestion, the 
circulation of the blood is the thing of most im¬ 
portance. The blood vessels are in a way irri¬ 
gating ditches through which the stream of life 
flows to nourish the vast commonwealth of tiny 
living cells which comprise the human body. In a 
way the blood also becomes a sewage system for 
it not only carries nourishment to the cells, but 
collects up the refuse matter and in turn carries 
that to the various eliminative organs where its 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


71 


poisons are more or less changed, as in the case 
of the liver, and to others, like the kidneys, where 
the poisons are eliminated from the body. 

Blood must circulate through a vast network 
of vessels in order to reach all parts of the body, 
and we are told that if these vessels were placed 
end to end, large and small, they would consti¬ 
tute a single tube a thousand miles long; and it is 
when these arteries become hard from old age or 
chronic poisoning that the heart has such a big 
job of pumping blood through them, and this is 
why the heart must fail or a blood vessel in the 
brain ruptures as the result of high pressure 
when we grow old and suffer from hardening of 
the arteries. 

1. Sluggish Circulation. Some folks suffer 
all the year around from cold hands and feet. 
These people are victims of a nervous disturbance 
of the circulation or they are suffering from 
chronic autointoxication, or maybe both; and it is 
a pity that many a splendid, warm-hearted soul 
has to give you a cold hand when they greet you. 
This is a condition that it is not always possible 
to overcome; but the cold feet at least should be 
taken seriously, because not long ago the news¬ 
papers told about a judge here in Chicago who 
gave a man a divorce from his wife because she 
went to bed with cold feet every night for fifteen 
years. 

Many nervous individuals suffer from an un¬ 
balanced circulation; they have cold hands and 
feet, with throbbing, aching heads, as well as an¬ 
noying digestive troubles. They seem to be out 
of tune all over, and with these people it is just as 


72 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


much a question of mental depression and im¬ 
provement of nerve tone, as it is a question of try¬ 
ing to help the circulation physically, or to im¬ 
prove the elimination by regulation of the diet, 
sweating baths, etc. In fact, I am coming to think 
that most of our circulatory troubles are largely 
nervous in origin. 

2. Common Sense in Fashion. When it comes 
to the question of healthful dressing, I think, on 
the whole, the women have made more improve¬ 
ment in recent years than we men have. The men 
still wear their stiff, tight collars, and cling to 
other foolish modes of dressing, whereas, a dozen 
years ago we were making fun of the women with 
their wasp-waists, trailing skirts, etc. I still be¬ 
lieve the women are making a mistake, sometimes 
at least, in not making a little more difference in 
their clothes between summer and winter, that is, 
with respect to their outer garments. Of course, 
if you will wear proper wraps when you leave the 
house, there is little more reason for dressing 
warmer in winter than in summer. 

When it comes to the question of pneumonia, I 
think the women overexpose themselves some¬ 
times by failing properly to clothe the extremi¬ 
ties. I do not refer so much to low necked dresses 
as I do to improper clothing of the lower limbs 
and ankles. You see, we have plenty of blood ves¬ 
sels in the face, neck, and chest region to keep us 
warm, even if we are underclothed, but it is in the 
ankles and legs that we have few vessels and those 
we have are close to the surface, so that they are 
easily exposed to the chill of the weather and this 
is why the lower extremities should be better 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


73 


clothed in bitter cold weather. The evil of ex¬ 
posure of this sort is shown by the anthrax 
experiment with poultry. You know a hen won’t 
take this disease ordinarily, but if you let it 
stand in cold water for an hour or two, and 
then inoculate it, it will come down with the 
disease. 

Let us remember the old Frenchman who 
wrote a book which was to be published after his 
death, and when they opened the voluminous man¬ 
uscript after his funeral, they found all the pages 
blank but one, and it contained this single sen¬ 
tence, “Keep the feet warm, the head cool, and 
the bowels open.” 

3. Health and Dress. The question of dress 
should be looked upon purely and simply from 
the health standpoint, though of course, there may 
be the secondary question of morals involved 
when we come to the discussion of woman’s at¬ 
tire. In recent years we hear criticism every now 
and then of the short skirt and its probable ef¬ 
fect on the male part of the population. In fact, 
I am often asked as a physician to give my opin¬ 
ion as to the moral influence of the styles in wom¬ 
en’s dress which have been in vogue in recent 
years. In answer to such a question I can only 
state that I think women have improved their 
dressing habits, that the garb of recent years is 
more practical and healthful than that which their 
sisters of another generation wore. As far as 
moral influences are concerned, I think our fears 
may be disregarded. The young man who grows 
up during the time of such fashions will perhaps 
be possessed of less sex curiosity than those who 


74 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


grew up during a period of long skirt fashions. 
Perhaps there would be some objections, from a 
a moral standpoint, to the frequent and marked 
changes in the length of skirts, such as having 
skirts below the ankles one year and up to the 
knees the next, etc. That is the only objection 
that I can see that can be urged from the moral 
standpoint. 

Indeed, the women are to be congratulated for 
the improvement they have made in the last dozen 
years, for the sanity that has come to be shown 
in fashion and dress. On the other hand there is 
still room for improvement as regards their tight 
shoes, high heeled slippers, etc. Now look at the 
men, the majority are still going around on the 
hottest days wearing heavy coats while they 
swelter in perspiration. If the women are making 
mistakes it is in dressing some parts of the body 
too sparsely during the cold weather; whereas the 
men seem to show their most absurd tendencies 
when it comes to hot weather dressing. Certainly 
if the fashion to wear inside suspenders becomes 
more universal, social custom should waive its 
old-time demand that the male population should 
be always coated when in the presence of the op¬ 
posite sex. Why should custom enforce the wear¬ 
ing of heavy coats under all circumstances and 
temperatures on the part of the masculine popu¬ 
lation? 

IV. WATER IN RELATION TO HEALTH 

The countless millions of cells that go to make 
up the human body all live and do their work sub¬ 
merged in water. The living cells of the body are 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


75 


essentially marine animals. They carry on their 
life activities bathed in liquids containing the 
nourishing substances of the blood and the same 
percentage of salt that is found in sea water. 
Now it is highly important as regards the ef¬ 
ficiency of these little cells, as to whether or not 
they disport themselves in clean water or in poi¬ 
son-laden liquids. There are plenty of folks who 
are scrupulously careful about keeping the out¬ 
side of the body clean, but are criminally careless 
about things on the inside. They bathe externally 
but they are filthy internally. That is, they do 
not regularly drink enough water. 

We should remember that we need about eight 
or ten glasses of water daily in order to flush the 
poisons out of the system, and to keep our inter¬ 
nal machinery bathed with clean fluids. We can’t 
expect to have good health unless we sweat regu¬ 
larly, and we cannot perspire freely unless we 
drink water abundantly. 

1. Water Substitutes. The majority of us 
have unfortunately formed the habit of drinking 
anything and everything except water. The 
American people are addicted to the habitual use 
of water substitutes. Any number of them take 
alcohol when they can get it, others habitually use 
tea and coffee, together with mineral water, soft 
drinks, coca-cola, bromo seltzer, and what not. I 
take it for granted that the majority of my read¬ 
ers at least know that alcohol is not a health bev¬ 
erage, but perhaps many of you do not appreciate 
that tea and coffee are also mild narcotics, al¬ 
though they, like alcohol, at first seem to be stim¬ 
ulants. 


76 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


These common table beverages along with 
coca-cola and bromo seltzer are drugs, and their 
habitual use, especially when used in large 
amounts, is highly deleterious to health. Tea es¬ 
pecially is injurious and when over-used results 
in a condition known to physicians as “tea drink¬ 
er's disorder." 

There is little doubt in my mind but that the 
majority of people would be better off if they 
would not use tea or coffee regularly. If you are 
not addicted to the habitual use of coffee, it con¬ 
stitutes a valuable drug for emergency use when 
you really need it; a transient stimulant, some¬ 
thing to carry you over a bad day or to buoy you 
up to go through some unusual task following a 
night of poor sleep. Of all drugs that can be used 
for temporary stimulation, coffee is the least 
harmful, but it is spoiled for such purposes when 
it is habitually used. 

Now, we do not want to place all soft drinks 
under the ban. The ordinary soda fountain drinks 
are harmless provided they are made of pure 
water and wholesome flavoring extracts, but this 
is not true of coca-cola, which is a caffein drink, a 
sort of iced-coffee. Bromo-seltzer and bromo- 
caffein and drugs belonging to this group are 
highly injurious to the health. On the other 
hand, lemonade and limeade and the other fruit 
flavored drinks are in every way wholesome. 
They certainly are altogether harmless. 

Cocoa and chocolate should not be classed 
along with tea and coffee, as they contain but 
small amounts of the active principle which is 
comparable to caffein, and if you want warm 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


77 


drinks, they are much to be preferred to tea and 
coffee. 

2. Drinking at Meal Time. They used to 
teach us that it was harmful to digestion to drink 
liquids at meal time, but recent X-ray investiga¬ 
tions serve to show that drinking with meals is 
not always injurious. We have three classes of 
people when it comes to the discussion of drink¬ 
ing with meals. Those with slow digestion, di¬ 
lated stomachs, usually 35 to 40 years of age—it 
would be much better for these persons not to 
drink much with their meals. A second class of 
younger people have too much acid, rapid diges¬ 
tion, suffer from sour stomach and heartburn— 
they would be decidedly better off if they would 
sip water slowly throughout the meal. In fact, 
their digestive troubles are often cured by taking 
even very cold water with their meals. 

Then we have another larger and third class, 
embracing the majority of us who have good, nor¬ 
mal digestion. Now it doesn’t make a bit of dif¬ 
ference whether we drink with our meals or not. 
In the case of these healthy stomachs the water 
taken with meals does not mix up with the food to 
dilute the gastric juice, but is immediately 
dumped off to the other end of the stomach and is 
quickly thrown out into the bowel, so that it in 
no way interferes with the process of digestion. 

3. The Bathing Instinct. Many wild animals 
regularly enjoy their bath. Birds are very fond 
of bathing. Most people are, though we must ad¬ 
mit there are exceptions to this rule. From a 
health standpoint bathing is simply an antidote 
for the wearing of clothing. If the human body 


78 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


were exposed to air and sunlight; if we did not 
wear so much clothing, we would not need to bathe 
so often. The wearing of clothes results in the 
retention of the sweat and this makes it necessary 
for us regularly to resort to some process for ar¬ 
tificially cleaning our skins. 

The majority of people do well on a couple of 
good warm cleansing soapsuds baths a week. 
Some persons who are not enjoying the best of 
health are benefited by taking cold baths each 
morning. Those who are in good flesh and have 
good circulation, who can take a cold bath in a 
warm room and not have cold chills chase up and 
down their spines, or have a headache following— 
in such cases the morning cold bath is an excellent 
tonic; but it is not necessary that the majority 
of people should punish themselves this way un¬ 
less they are in need of moral discipline, in which 
case they may take cold baths as a sort of pen¬ 
ance. Nevertheless, some folks with poor circu¬ 
lation and impaired digestion would benefit very 
much by taking cold baths each morning for a 
year. 

The neutral bath taken at about 98° F. just 
before retiring is a wonderful nerve quieter. It 
is one of the best things in the world to promote 
sleep. This bath is also a wonderful remedy for 
general nervousness and when taken for such pur¬ 
poses, the water must feel neither warm nor 
chilly; it must be just neutral. The patient 
should stay in the tub anywhere from twenty min¬ 
utes to an hour, but someone must keep the tem¬ 
perature of the bath constantly at 98° F. Imme¬ 
diately after the bath, the patient must be gently 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


79 


dried off and go at once to bed. This is a better 
remedy for insomnia than sleeping powders, and it 
has no injurious comeback. Whatever good it 
does is clear gain. It does no harm. 

V. GETTING RID OF POISONS 

The human body is a poison factory. Every 
time we think a thought, twinge a nerve, or move 
a muscle, acid poisons are produced. These chem¬ 
ical poisons must be promptly eliminated from the 
body if we are to enjoy good health and do our 
work efficiently. These poisons are eliminated 
from the body by different routes, as through the 
lungs, the skin, and by means of the kidneys and 
bowels. It becomes highly important that we 
know how to maintain the efficiency of the elimi¬ 
native and sewage disposal systems of the body. 

1. The Lungs. Many of the food elements 
we consume are so completely burned up in the 
body that the end products are only water and 
smoke—carbon dioxid. Now this smoke, or car¬ 
bonic acid gas, is thrown out through the lungs 
and is given up in exchange for the oxygen we 
breathe in from the atmosphere. Thus our 
breathing becomes one of the channels for the 
elimination of poisons, while, of course, it accom¬ 
plishes other valuable things in behalf of our 
health, as already considered. 

2. The Kidneys. The kidneys are probably 
our most important safety valve, as regards the 
escape of poisons from the system. You should 
know that the urine is, in many ways, just a sam¬ 
ple of the blood, minus the blood cells. Urine is 
produced by the kidneys filtering the poisonous 


80 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


substances out of the blood. The filter tubing of 
the kidneys, if uncoiled, would reach about fifteen 
miles; and we wear out our kidneys—we destroy 
this tubular filter—when we constantly over-eat, 
or saturate our systems with poison, as in the 
case of the excessive use of alcohol, tobacco, tea, 
coffee, etc. When we wear the kidneys out, we 
have a condition called Bright’s disease, often ac¬ 
companied also by high blood pressure. 

3. The Skin. You know the Good Book says 
that man should “earn his bread by the sweat of 
his face” but we have got it into our heads that 
we should make a living without sweating. Now, 
you need a good sweat once or twice a week at 
least. Stop for a moment, and consider how im¬ 
portant the skin is from a health standpoint. In 
the first place, let me remind you that while you 
only have about seventeen square feet of skin, you 
have thirty-two thousand square feet of sweat 
gland openings on your skin. How can that be 
possible? This is the explanation. If you look at 
your skin with a magnifying glass, you will find 
it is not the smooth and beautiful thing you fool 
yourself into believing it to be; it looks like a 
mountain range, all covered with little elevations, 
so that it is possible to have the enormous area of 
thirty-two thousand square feet of sweat glands 
on seventeen square feet of skin. 

On some parts of the body there are twenty- 
five hundred little sweat pores to the square inch, 
and the sweat tubes in our skin, if laid end to end, 
would make a sewer ten miles long. 

It has been estimated that there are two mil¬ 
lion five hundred thousand sweat glands in the 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


81 


skin of the average human being, and the total 
area of the openings of all these sweat glands, 
these little sewers of the human system, aggregate 
eleven thousand square feet. See what happens, 
then, when you fail to get your regular cleansing 
bath. See what an enormous sewage disposal sys¬ 
tem you are allowing to clog up. Just as long as 
we wear clothes and interfere with the natural 
order of skin elimination, we will have to take hot 
baths as an antidote. 

4. The Bowels. When we come to the study 
of the bowels as a poison eliminator, we are deal¬ 
ing with what might be compared to the ash box 
of a furnace. If you are going to shovel coal 
into a furnace two or three times a day, you 
ought to shake down the ash box two or three 
times a day—that is if you want the fires to burn 
brightly. 

Ideally, if you eat three times a day, you 
should have three bowel movements a day, but we 
know, in the case of most folks, that they will not 
take the time for three evacuations daily; and so 
we advise you to have two, one in the morning and 
one in the evening. A little habit training will 
soon enable you to enjoy this luxury; because it 
is a luxury to keep the body free from these poi¬ 
sons. For if you allow these poisonous substances 
to remain over time in the bowel, many times they 
will be reabsorbed into the blood, to give you 
headaches and other feelings of depression and 
lassitude. Of course, I know some of you have 
these headaches because you are nervous. Not all 
headaches are due to autointoxication disturb¬ 
ances. 

6 


82 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Some of you have formed the habit of ignor¬ 
ing the call of Nature, and you are like the fellow 
who has an alarm clock going off at six o’clock in 
the morning. If he smothers it with a pillow a 
few times and goes hack to sleep, it will be but a 
short time till he won’t hear it when it does ring. 
So it is with the delicate, nervous calls of Nature. 
When you have the call to evacuate the bowel and 
ignore it, it soon passes, and ere long you lose the 
ability to hear or recognize it; that is one of the 
ways in which the tendency to chronic constipa¬ 
tion is formed. 

Now, you can train yourself in a very few 
weeks to have two regular movements a day and 
thus add greatly to your health and efficiency. 
Sometimes the bowels will move immediately upon 
arising, before breakfast, but in many cases they 
move better about half to three-quarters of an 
hour after meals. 

5. Self-Poisoning. Autointoxication is the 
name we use to designate the condition of self¬ 
poisoning that sometimes results from tardy 
bowel elimination—chronic constipation. When 
these poisons are reabsorbed into the blood they 
produce dark brown circles under the eyes, the 
dark brown taste in the mouth in the morning, and 
a general, all round, good-for-nothing, rotten feel¬ 
ing. 

If we want to enjoy good health and to live ef¬ 
ficient lives, we must fight constipation. You 
must form the habit of eating plenty of fruits and 
vegetables two or three times a day, and if this 
does not regulate the bowel action satisfactorily, 
eat bran. Take exercise every day. Walk out in 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


83 


the open air. If your daily labor does not cause 
you to bend the trunk muscles, then take setting 
up and other bending exercises each morning and 
evening. 

In your efforts to overcome constipation, don’t 
make the mistake of forming either the cathartic 
or enema habit. If you have to resort to anything 
artificial to encourage bowel action, take mineral 
oil. That at least will not do any harm, and in 
most cases it will afford relief. Enemas are all 
right to take occasionally, as when you are com¬ 
ing down with a cold, or in some other emergency; 
but don’t fall into the habit of depending upon an 
enema to empty the bowel. It is sometimes hard 
to tell which is the w;orse, the cathartic or the 
enema habit. 

In overcoming constipation it will help if you 
will drink a small glass of cold water when you 
first get up in the morning, and it is also very help¬ 
ful when at stool to use a footstool or low bench 
of some kind to elevate the feet so as to bring 
yourself into old Mother Nature’s squatting posi¬ 
tion. This enables you to use the muscles of the 
abdomen in the work of encouraging bowel evacu¬ 
ation. 

If you are going to cure yourself of constipa¬ 
tion you must be regular in your habits of bowel 
elimination. Go to stool the moment you feel the 
slightest call; and remember the list of the valu¬ 
able laxative foods, such as apples, oranges, 
prunes, figs, spinach, etc., and if necessary, 
bran. 

Keep cheerful. Peevishness and grouchiness 
interfere with healthful nerve action, and all this 


84 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


reacts to favor sluggishness of the bowels. Peo¬ 
ple who have the “blues” are usually constipated. 
A cheerful, happy frame of mind is a great help 
in maintaining that degree of nerve tone which is 
so essential to the normal action of all of the in¬ 
ternal organs, including the bowels. 

VI. BODILY ACTIVITY 

Exercise is essential to health, and it is neces¬ 
sary that we indulge in mental activity as well as 
bodily action. The mind must be used as well as 
the body in order to insure pep. What we need 
is an active mind in a healthy body. 

If you read through the advertising pages of 
the magazines these days, you will see all sorts 
and systems of exercise exploited. Now let me 
say to you that there is no one royal road to se¬ 
curing health through exercise. These systems 
are all about alike. All you need to do is to swing 
yourself around a little, bend your knees, jump up 
and down, twist your trunk, or roll around on the 
floor. Of course, there is system in some of these 
exercises so that you use different sets of muscles. 
You can get exercise for the arms, legs, trunk, etc., 
but what I mean is, don’t think there is some sure 
road to health and the cultivation of pep through 
physical exercise alone. 

The most of this physical culture business 
is just a fad. Many of these physical culture 
hounds were born with big muscles just as 
others were born with big feet or big heads. 
They just naturally have big muscles and they 
don’t have to work in a gymnasium to keep them 
that way. 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 85 

The self-resistive exercises, whereby one set of 
muscles resists another, is an excellent exercise 
for both men and women to take when partially 
disrobed in the morning, or just before retiring in 
the evening. 

1. Clothing and Exercise. It is necessary, in 
order to get the full benefit of physical exercise, 
properly to dress the body. Tight fitting cloth¬ 
ing, bands, and belts, should be discarded, and 
the body be so robed as to permit of the free 
movement of all the muscles concerned. 

Walking is undoubtedly the best form of exer¬ 
cise for both men and women. In the case of 
women, they should put on sensible shoes before 
going out for a health walk. The shoes most wom¬ 
en wear are not fit to walk in. Women should 
discard their narrow, pointed-toed, high-heeled 
footwear, for shoes with a common sense last, 
which fit the foot, and will enable them to enjoy 
their health hikes. 

We should remember that it is normal and 
natural to toe in a bit. We are naturally a bit 
pigeon-toed. In the past few years women’s 
attire has been wonderfully reformed, made 
more sensible, but they still lag behind in the 
matter of shoe fashions. Women still persist in 
trying to get a number six foot into a number 
three shoe. 

Let us practice comfortable and leisurely 
walking. It is not necessary to stand up stiff like 
a poker when walking for exercise. They have 
even quit that sort of thing in the army. You 
don’t have to be on dress parade. You can swing 
along at a comfortable and enjoyable gait. 


86 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


It is also well to know how to sit and stand, to 
understand proper posture. It is all right to 
lounge about at times, but we should also know 
how to sit down in a chair without slumping, with¬ 
out so fully relaxing our abdominal muscles as to 
contribute to their weakness. If we need to lie 
down, let us do it, but we don’t always have to sit 
lying down. 

2. Man a Working Machine. The study of 
human anatomy shows that men and women were 
built for working machines. They were really not 
made to sit down, they were made either to lie 
down and rest or stand up and work. And in this 
connection you should be reminded that one rea¬ 
son why people have to engage in so much physi¬ 
cal exercise, or other form of work, in order to be 
healthy, is the fact that they eat so much. I had 
some medical friends ask me recently how I did 
so much work and had such good health, when I 
didn’t take any more exercise than I do—for I 
only take a small amount of exercise. I told them 
it was because I did not eat so much as they did. 
I said to my friends: “If I ate as much as you do 
every day, in three square meals, I’d have to exer¬ 
cise more than you do to keep healthy.” I only 
eat a little bite in the morning and one square 
meal in the evening, and I don’t have to take so 
much daily exercise to work it oft 

But we need a little daily exercise and a good 
walk once a week or so, in addition to this mod¬ 
erate daily activity. 

If you are going to do brain work, just take 
the exercise your work demands, then look out for 
gluttony. A lot of people sit down at the table 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


87 


three times a day and stuff food into their stom¬ 
achs until the pain at the equator is greater than 
the pleasure at the north pole. 

It goes without saying that some agreeable 
form of exercise is better for your health than 
physical drudgery. If your heart is in what you 
are doing you get more good out of it, the blood 
will circulate more freely and, on the whole, it 
will benefit you more. Try to find some physical 
fad that you can enjoy, because you will get bet¬ 
ter returns on a given amount of work. 

3. Mental Action. We should endeavor to 
maintain proper balance between mental and 
physical work. Some people make a mistake by 
overworking their bodies and underworking their 
brains; others exhaust the mind, while they allow 
the physical machine to rust out from inaction. 

If we are going into the business of cultivating 
pep, we must provide for balanced living, for 
symmetrical activity, for co-ordinated action be¬ 
tween mind and body. There is no sense in wear¬ 
ing out the body machine while the mental mech¬ 
anism corrodes with rust. Mental activity is also 
good for the general health. We must come to the 
place where we recognize that the mind is con¬ 
stantly influencing the body for weal or for woe, 
and that in turn the body exercises a continuous 
influence upon the mind; and further, that both 
mind and body are tremendously influenced by the 
circulation throughout the organism of those 
subtle chemical substances which are secreted by 
the ductless gland system. 

Miss D. was a business woman, 32 years of 
age, who began to lose in weight slowly, her 


88 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


appetite was poor, she suffered more or less from 
chronic constipation—when all of a sudden she 
became possessed of the idea that she had some 
fatal and incurable disease, and she began going to 
doctors. Doctor after doctor she went to could find 
nothing wrong with her, until she had visited some 
eighteen physicians, spending her current income 
and running in debt, until she was pursuaded to 
undergo a thoroughgoing investigation, in which 
nothing was found, and she decided for once to be¬ 
lieve the doctor; went back to work, not feeling 
any better, but within three or four weeks she was 
doing normal work, and in less than three months 
she described herself as “full of pep and cour¬ 
age/ ’ 

VII. REST AND SLEEP 

Sleep has been called “Nature’s sweet re¬ 
storer.” Theoretically, we are supposed to be 
able to get along without it, as science teaches us 
that rest is the only thing we really need; but 
sleep seems to give the soul a chance to play, in its 
dream life. The subconscious mind gets its re¬ 
creation while we are unconscious in slumber. 

The theories as to the cause of sleep are many. 
It is supposed that our nerve cells wear out and 
let go their “hand holds” and thus the contact is 
broken in the brain, so that nerve currents are 
stopped in their circuit. Others think that poisons 
accumulate in the blood sufficiently during the day 
to anesthetize the brain and put us to sleep at 
night. And so the theories go on, one after an¬ 
other. More recently we look upon sleep as being 
produced by muscular relaxation. The important 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


89 


thing for ns to know is that sleep and rest are es¬ 
sential to the recuperation of bodily strength and 
the restoration of mental power. Practically 
considered, if we don’t get our sleep we are not 
fit for work the next day. 

1. Antidote for Work. Now, I want to make 
it clear to you that sleep is an antidote for work, 
but not for worry. You work all day, sleep all 
night, and get up rested; you worry all day, sleep 
all night, and get up tired. I want you to learn 
one thing, and that is to live on your victuals and 
not on your vitals . You buy your food and eat 
it and that is what you should live on—not your 
nerves. 

If you want to be bright, snappy and efficient 
you must have regular periods of sleep and rest. 
You will not succeed if you are going to sit up till 
after twelve o’clock every night attending shows 
and after theatre parties. Sooner or later, such a 
life is going to break down your nervous reserve 
and you are going to fall down and fail at your 
game. 

2. Dreams. You all have dreams every night, 
and you dream all night long, but when you sleep 
soundly, you don’t know it. That is the only dif¬ 
ference between the nights you think you dream 
and the nights you think you do not dream. But 
when you are dreaming your mind is taking a va¬ 
cation. Your dream life is your subconscious 
play life. 

Dreams are of no importance unless you 
dream too much about your work. That means 
you need a vacation. Sometimes you dream of 
being smothered, because you don’t have proper 


90 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


ventilation in the sleeping room. Don’t be afraid 
of “night air”; that’s the only kind of air there is 
after sundown. 

Don’t worry about the peculiar dreams you 
have at night that may be directly or indirectly 
of a sex nature—these dreams that are accom¬ 
panied by thrills. They are perfectly normal and 
natural, particularly for unmarried men and 
women, and don’t chide yourself the next day be¬ 
cause you have been the victim of this sort of 
moral nightmare. On the whole, it should be 
rather welcomed as a sort of psychologic safety 
valve. 

Don’t worry about dreams coming true. Don’t 
be superstitious about dreams. Don’t be foolish 
enough to consult a dream book, a clairvoyant, a 
witch, or a wizard, to find out what your dreams 
mean. Go about your business. Let Nature take 
her course. 

3. The Sleeping Room. If you cannot work 
out of doors, you can, to all intents and purposes, 
sleep out of doors. You should open up the win¬ 
dows every night. The old-fashioned spare bed¬ 
room has departed, with its damp and musty 
odor. You spend about one-third of your life in 
bed, almost as much as you spend at work; for if 
our lives are well divided we spend about one- 
third at work, one-third at play—including eat¬ 
ing and recreation, and one-third at rest. So, if 
you cannot work out of doors, you can, perforce, 
sleep out of doors. 

I don’t mean that any of you frail creatures 
should try to sleep out on a sleeping porch all 
winter and freeze to death trying to woo health. 


THE CULTIVATION OF PEP 


91 


Don’t be an extremist; keep in tbe middle of the 
road; nse common sense. 

You know, it is while you are asleep at night 
that the nerve centers recuperate their energy 
granules; actual little sand-like particles of mat¬ 
ter that can be seen under the microscope. You 
use these up during the day and while you sleep 
at night they are restored, and they give you pep 
for the next day’s work. 

4. Regular Vacations. Remember this, you 
cannot afford to do without vacations; and if you 
are of a nervous tendency, or over thirty years 
old, they are indispensable. Have a vacation 
once a year. Those of you who are not strong 
physically, or are weak nervously, take a vacation 
twice a year. Get away from your work. Do 
something entirely different from what you have 
been doing. It is the change you need, not just 
rest—though you may need rest if you are phys¬ 
ically worn out. But it is usually some sort of 
nervous fatigue that we are looking for relief 
from, rather than physical tiredness. 

Don’t undertake to do two persons’ work. 
You may be able to get away with it for a while, 
but sooner or later, you will come to a sad end. It 
is useless for a man to do a full day’s work and 
then come home at night and try to do another 
day’s work of some other kind. It is all right for 
him to engage in diverting activities. A seden¬ 
tary worker during the day can putter around a 
work bench at night and get good out of it. On 
the other hand, it is suicidal for a woman to un¬ 
dertake to do a full day’s work in an office, a fac¬ 
tory, or in some other capacity, and then come 


92 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


home at night and undertake to sew, mend, cook, 
clean house, etc. It will not work. After the 
day’s work is over, the evening must be spent in 
diversion, recreation, and relaxation. As the 
years pass we cannot fool old Mother Nature. 
The older we get the more necessary it becomes to 
provide regularly for our rest and relaxation. 


PART III 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP- 
HEALTHY SELF-EXPRESSION 

W E have discussed the barometers of pep, or 
health indicators; the cultivation of pep, how 
to conserve our health energy; and we now come 
to the study of the safety valves for pep—those 
things which have to do with self-expression and 
emotional elimination, the mechanism which 
makes it possible to maintain high pressure in the 
personality engine without running the risk of 
blowing up the machine. This is the section of our 
study that has to do with the technique of pre¬ 
venting temperamental explosions, physical 
breakdowns, nervous blow-ups, and emotional 
sprees. 

No sane mechanic would build a high pressure 
engine without providing adequate safety valves. 
The higher the pressure under which you are go¬ 
ing to work, the more certainly must you see to it 
that your safety valves are in good working con¬ 
dition. High pressure jeopardizes any machine 
that does not possess good devices for the auto¬ 
matic release of excess pressure. 

I want to discuss with you the best methods 
of nerve control to teach you the secret of self- 
mastery. 

I want to help you in the task of delivering 
yourself from acute fear, or stage fright, on the 
one hand; and from chronic fear, or worry, on 
93 


94 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


the other. I want to help you to be rid of fear, 
anxiety, uncertainty, and indecision—your pent- 
up feelings and nervous tension. 

I want to encourage you to work for deliver¬ 
ance from all your fidgety habits and all your 
energy-leaks—to help you find deliverance from 
hoodoos and superstition. 

If you are going to succeed in your chosen 
calling and at the same time enjoy reasonably 
good health, you must master the technique of the 
regulation of your emotions . There is no mind 
so great that it can long stand self-contemplation. 
Introspection is fatal to happiness and health. 
We must learn to keep our minds off ourselves. 
Eemember what the impatient mother told her 
nervous daughter one Sunday afternoon, after 
her patience was exhausted. She said, ‘ ‘ Maggie, 
Maggie, for goodness’ sake, can’t you get your 
mind off your thoughts?” 

Now, if you happen to belong to a hereditary 
nervous type, you will find it inadvisable to over¬ 
suppress your emotions, but that does not mean 
you are to let them run wild and control you. It 
means that you are to study how to provide for 
their healthy, normal and controlled expression 
and elimination. 

When we become victims of our emotions, de¬ 
velop peevishness, begin to worry over our diffi¬ 
culties, and whine about our troubles, we go back 
to a more or less babyish or infantile type of re¬ 
acting to our environment. We want to be pam¬ 
pered and petted, and are continuously telling our 
troubles, trying to draw out sympathy for our¬ 
selves. 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


95 


I. CONTENTMENT—LOVE OF WORK- 
VOCATIONAL PATRIOTISM 

A GOOD JOB 

Someone asked the late Theodore Roosevelt 
how he could work so hard and he so healthy and 
so happy, and he replied: “I like my job.” A 
good job is a prime necessity for health and hap¬ 
piness. Contentment is a great safety valve to 
regulate pep pressure. If you want to work hard 
and at the same time be healthy and happy, you 
must either learn to like your job or else get rid 
of it as soon as possible, and get a job you do like. 

This is not only good common sense, good 
physiology, good psychology, but it must be good 
theology also, because I think it was the apostle 
Paul who, in describing his varying life experi¬ 
ences, said: “I have learned in whatsoever state I 
am, therewith to be content.” Dissatisfaction, in¬ 
decision, every other sort of nervous uncertainty 
about the position you hold or the work you are 
doing, are all disastrous to health, demoralizing 
to happiness, and destructive to business efficiency. 

It is not fair to your firm nor yourself to go 
on working at something you really dislike. Of 
course, I want you to be careful about making 
changes, for perhaps some of you belong to that 
nervous, chronically dissatisfied group, who find 
it hard to be happy anywhere, or satisfied with 
anything. You belong to that type of individual 
who always thinks the other fellow has the best of 
every proposition. You are always tempted to 
feel that your competitor is a “lucky dog,” while 
you contemplate your struggles and feel that your 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


luck is always rotten. You had better get the 
word luck out of your vocabulary. Better say 
good-bye to it once and for all. 

I think it was the great inventor, Edison, who 
once said to a fellow who remarked that one of 
iis inventions must have been the result of great 
inspiration (you know Edison is a little deaf, and 
the man had to repeat the word inspiration 
twice); but when he finally caught it, Edison re¬ 
plied, “No, not inspiration—perspiration, per¬ 
spiration/ 1 While some of you are holding your 
heads in your hands waiting for an inspiration, 
some one else will go out and in profuse perspira¬ 
tion turn the trick and leave you in the lurch. 

The love of work, then, devotion to one’s job, 
comes to be of real value as a safety valve for pep, 
as a means of self-expression, as a channel for 
blowing off steam, and as a direct agency which 
can be used to prevent nervous breakdowns and 
temperamental blow-ups. 

II. LOYALTY—LOVE OF YOUR FIRM- 
COMMERCIAL PATRIOTISM 

A GOOD CONNECTION 

The average man or woman takes a lot of sat¬ 
isfaction in being loyal to something. Americans 
all like to join things. We all dearly love to be 
patriotic. Most of us are tickled to death to serve 
in a good cause, to toil for the advancement of a 
worth while project. Loyalty unfailingly breeds 
enthusiasm, devotion enlarges the horizon, and 
consecration is good for the nerves. These senti¬ 
ments and emotions all serve to lighten our tasks 
and to ease our burdens. 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


97 


You can work twice as hard without breaking 
down when you like the folks you are working 
with. Congenial business associates and agree¬ 
able commercial companions turn work that you 
would otherwise find drudgery into pleasure and 
joy. 

If you don’t like your firm, or your business 
connections, then either learn to like them or get 
away from them. Make a new connection. 
Don’t go along year after year working for a 
thing you don’t love and that you cannot be loyal 
to with a whole heart, for loyalty and all that 
goes with it constitutes a great safety valve for 
pep. 

You cannot safely carry a high pep pressure 
when you are not enthusiastic about your busi¬ 
ness connections. It will wear you out, and 
break you down, sooner or later. You want to 
have such a business connection that as the years 
go by you can take an increased interest in your 
work; that you can safely cultivate more and 
more enthusiasm for your job; that you can be¬ 
come more and more devoted to the thing you are 
doing. 

You are never going to develop the spirit of 
a crusader and the enthusiasm of an evangelist, 
trying to put over a proposition that you don’t 
heartily believe in. You can hardly enjoy advanc¬ 
ing the business interests of a firm you are not 
loyal to. You cannot reduce your blood pressure, 
relieve your nervous tension, and maintain your 
nervous equilibrium, doing something that you 
are not whole heartedly interested in and whole 
souledly devoted to. 

7 


98 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


III. RECREATION—LOVE OF PLAY- 
PRIMITIVE PATRIOTISM 

A GOOD FAD 

I don’t know of anything (aside from a good 
job) that serves as such a wonderful safety valve 
for mind—yes, and body—as a good fad. The 
older you get the more certainly you need to play, 
and play regularly. You know, we love to do 
those things—to play at those things—which our 
early ancestors worked at. That is why I call this 
love of recreation primitive patriotism . Our an¬ 
cestors fished for a living. Sometimes fish was 
their only source of food supply. That must he 
the reason why we like to fish for fun—as a recrea¬ 
tion. We are benefited not only by our fads but by 
our avocations. I am not only helped by playing, 
but it does me good to write books and lecture. It 
is a little bit different from the ordinary run of 
my duties as a medical man. 

If you want to work hard and deliver the 
goods, and avoid breaking down in the midst of 
your game, if you want to be sure that your great¬ 
est safety valve is in working order, then get a 
hobby—fall in love with a fad. Children love to 
play, and they don’t often have nervous prostra¬ 
tion. We don’t send business men off to sani¬ 
tariums because they are “nutty” or brain- 
cracked, until they quit playing. We don’t have 
to see the doctor about nerve exhaustion and 
brain fag until we have pursued our business ac¬ 
tivities to the neglect of our play life. 

You must learn how to relax; how to rest; how 
to change your activity. Study and cultivate 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


99 


wholesome methods of play. Now, I can’t pre¬ 
scribe a fad for you. A fad is like a sweetheart; 
you will have to find one and fall in love with it 
yourself. If I prescribe golf, or some other form 
of exercise for you, then it is a sort of medical 
procedure with you—a health practice—you are 
doing it because the doctor told you to. Now that 
is not the way you court when you are in love. 
God knows you don’t have to be told to do it, you’d 
do it if you were told not to. And that is the kind 
of a fad I want you to meet up with and fall in 
love with, to pursue and embrace it, make it a 
part of your life—really enjoy it. 

You know work is a thing we have to do to 
make a living or to satisfy our ambition, or to sat¬ 
isfy the urge of a thyroid master that whips us 
into the game. But play is something we don’t 
have to do—we just naturally like to do it. 

Difference Between Work and Play. Let me 
give you an illustration of the difference between 
work and play. Will you, in your imagination fol¬ 
low me for a moment? It is summer time. Over 
yonder in a vacant lot—the kids are playing base¬ 
ball. A lad has just knocked a home run. Do you 
visualize the knee action as that boy runs around 
the diamond and slides in home—safe? Wasn’t 
that a picture of animated sprinting? Just now 
this boy’s father appears across the way with an 
empty market basket, whistles, and calls the boy 
away from the game to go to the grocery on an 
errand. Now watch the boy’s knee action. 
Never mind the look on his face, just watch the 
knee action. He can hardly walk—behaves as if 
he had partial paralysis. 


100 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


That is the difference between work and play. 
The boy has to go to the grocery store. He 
doesn’t want to. His muscles suddenly discover 
that they are tired. He has spring fever. He 
didn’t have to play baseball—he wanted to. 
Many a boy would rather play baseball than eat— 
and that’s saying a lot. You see there is a great 
difference in the effect on your health and strength 
when you are doing the thing you like to do as 
compared with having to do something that you 
don’t want to do—something that you don’t like. 

Again, in this connection I am reminded of an 
experience I had a few years ago over near the 
hospital by Lincoln Park. I came out of the hos¬ 
pital one beautiful, balmy, spring morning with 
my wife, and just as we got outside she told me 
she had forgotten to see a new patient on the sec¬ 
ond floor and that she would have to go back. I 
said, “All right,‘Honey, I’ll wait for you down 
here in the fresh air.” There were a number of 
boys on the street corner spinning tops, loitering 
on their way to school. They all strolled on down 
the street, but one, who was waiting for his top to 
run down. I sauntered over to this lad and 
thought I’d have a visit with him while waiting. 
I had to introduce myself in some way, so I 
thoughtlessly said to this lad: “Son, can you tell 
me why you like to spin a top f ’ ’ He gave me one 
straight look—he never took his eyes off me, as he 
edged over to where his top was, grabbed it, and 
went around the corner as if he were shot out of 
a gun. I followed. He looked back, and when 
he saw me coming, he yelled to his companions 
a little ways ahead of him down the street: 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


101 


“Hey, fellers, dere’s a nut loose out o’ de hos¬ 
pital.’ ’ 

That lad knew I was crazy the moment I asked 
him that fool question. You have to have a reason 
for working but not for playing, and that little fel¬ 
low figured that there’s something wrong with 
any man who would ask a boy why he liked to spin 
a top. And so there would be if the question were 
asked soberly. I just asked it foolishly to get into 
conversation with the lad. 

My definition of play is this: first, something 
you would rather do than eat; and second, some¬ 
thing that has nothing to do with your livelihood, 
ambition or religion. 

Find yourself a fad, go back to play, ride a 
hobby, have a grand and glorious time, don’t get 
old: remain kids, and you’ll do twice as much 
business next year as you did this year with only 
half the wear and tear on mind, soul, and body. 
Turn business into a game and get a lot of other 
games to play along with it, and you will find that 
the spirit of play will be almost like discovering 
the fountain of perpetual youth. Play rejuve¬ 
nates you when work wears you out; a fad rests 
you even when you work hard at it, even after you 
have been tired out at your work-a-day tasks. 

IV. SOCIABILITY—LOVE OF FOLKS— 
SOCIAL PATRIOTISM 
A GOOD STORY 

It is not only a good thing to have a good job 
and a good fad, but you want to learn to love a 
good joke and develop your sense of humor; and 
in order to do that you have to be sociable; you 


102 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


must become a good mixer. You should learn to 
like folks—just folks. 

Get over some of your narrow minded views, 
go out and mix with the world, and enjoy the peo¬ 
ple you meet. They are not so very different from 
you, and you will find something about every one 
of them to like, if you really get acquainted with 
them. 

If you know one really good typical Irishman, 
one Jew, and one Negro, you will have enough 
laughter thrust upon you to insure good digestion. 
People are interesting, they are lovable, and of 
course, too, a lot of them are funny. 

See to it that your associates, instead of get¬ 
ting on your nerves, tickle your funny bone. 
Many of you have a free ticket to a three-ring cir¬ 
cus, but you don’t enjoy it. You are grouchy over 
some of the acts while somebody else is laughing 
and having the time of his life. Join in the cho¬ 
rus, come down off your high horse, and learn how 
to enjoy folks and be amused by them. 

Get interested in people for your own soul’s 
sake, in order to provide a safety valve, in order 
to give your sense of humor a chance to grow and 
develop. Many of the people you are doing busi¬ 
ness with are very interesting, if you would only 
get acquainted with them. Get into the game— 
you ’ll have a lot of fun. 

Cultivate a Sense of Humor. I think most of 
you have learned how to swap jokes. If you are 
doing it, keep it up, and if you are not doing it, 
start today. 

Don’t get into a fix where you can’t see the hu¬ 
mor of a situation, where you can’t see the joke 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


103 


on yourself. Don’t be like the fellow out West, 
the other day, on an aviation field, who rushed up 
to a chap who was trying to start an aeroplane, 
and said: “Can you fly me to Omaha?” The 
fellow said, “Sure, jump in.” And then this fel¬ 
low took his place at the wheel and started the 
aeroplane straight up in the air—climbing up 
about five thousand feet—all the while looking 
around and grinning at his passenger. Now the 
passenger wanted to go to Omaha, not to Glory, so 
he yelled to his pilot: “What’s the matter with 
you? I don’t see the joke in this.” The pilot re¬ 
plied: “I do. By this time the superintendent of 
that insane asylum back there is looking all over 
the institution for me.” 

So there you are. Can you go straight up in 
the air five thousand feet with a lunatic and see 
the joke in it? Maybe not—but do your best—if 
you find yourself there. 

I came home from the hospital the other night 
worn out. It was about three o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing, and I didn’t know whether to take a bath or 
go to bed. I was too tired to sleep. I looked down 
by the side of my bed and saw a story marked with 
blue pencil, which had been left there for me by 
one of the family. I read it, had a good laugh, 
went to bed and slept like a log. This was the 
story: Two Scotchmen out fishing, storm coming 
up—out of sight of land, and they had lost their 
oars. One Scotchman said to the other, “Andrew, 
dae ye pray?” “Weel,” said Andrew, “not 
much lately. Ah’m a bit oot o’ practice.” 
“Weel,” his companion replied. “Ye’s better try 
yer hand. We’re up against it.” So Andrew got 


104 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


down on his knees in the middle of the boat and 
started in to pray. He said: “Lord, AhVe broke 
a’ the commandments and Ah’ve been a hard 
drinker, but if Ah get back tae land Ah’ll promise 
nivver tae—” Just then his companion laid an 
anxious hand on his shoulder, and said: “Ah 
wadna commit maseP tae far Andrew. Ah thenk 
Ah see land.” 

There is nothing in the world that will prevent 
nervous breakdowns, grouchy dispositions, and 
business failures—outside of the spirit of play 
—so much as the habit of telling stories. A 
sense of humor will keep you from taking your¬ 
self too seriously. Other people don’t take you 
seriously—why should you take yourself seri¬ 
ously? 

I am pleading with you to love folks because 
they are bound to develop your sense of humor. 
Cultivate folks—visit with them outside of busi¬ 
ness hours. Meet people—keep up your social 
life. Entertain and be entertained. 

Mingle with your fellow men from the high¬ 
est to the lowest. Cultivate the banker—you may 
want to borrow something sometime—and learn 
to know the “chap” who sells you fruit on the 
corner. Find out about the newsboy you buy your 
papers of. In short, introduce yourself to the hu¬ 
man race—the “so-called human race”—and you 
will find it a source of great delight and endless 
enjoyment. 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


105 


V. MANHOOD—LOVE OF FAMILY- 
RACIAL PATRIOTISM 
A GOOD HOME 

Every real man, every true woman, has an in¬ 
stinctive longing for companionship, for a good 
home. This very instinct, together with the 
thought and effort required to bring about its 
realization, constitutes a very efficient means of 
emotional elimination—a safety valve for the re¬ 
lief and adjustment of internal pressure. 

The man who is in love, the fellow who is car¬ 
rying on a courtship and looking forward to the 
founding of a home and the rearing of a family, 
has not only the inspirational benefit of this bio¬ 
logic incentive, but if he has any self-respect at 
all, it serves as a deterrent to his entry into many 
by-paths of evil and forbidden vice. It is a sta¬ 
bilizing influence, morally speaking. 

Likewise, in the case of a married man who has 
even a mediocre sense of loyalty to his marriage 
obligations, his home, his wife and children, the 
obligations of married life serve to save him from 
seeking an outlet for his surplus energies, or the 
relief of his high pressure, in harmful and un¬ 
wholesome channels. 

It is needless to say that in the case of the 
average woman, she finds her greatest emotional 
outlet in devotion to her home, to her husband, 
and to her children. 

In these days, many men find the realization of 
their ideals in the association of their wives with 
them in their life work. This is true in many 
forms of business and in the professions. In this 


106 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


way husband and wife realize perhaps the highest 
ideal of companionship and mutual helpfulness. 

VI. RELIGION—LOVE OF GOD- 
MORAL PATRIOTISM 
A GOOD CODE OF ETHICS 

It may seem strange to you that I, a medical 
man, discussing health and efficiency, should drop 
into a discussion of religion. Mind you, I am not 
asking you to be church members, though that 
might be a very excellent thing for many of you 
—many of you may already be church members. 
I am talking to you about religion as a safety 
valve for pep—as a health measure. I am giving 
you medical advice. I am not concerned with any 
religious propaganda—or with any given creed. 
I want you to get your religion from the original 
source—from On High. 

Go out some dark night and look up at the stars 
and ask yourself who is running this astronomical 
plot. Broaden your spiritual horizon. Get it into 
your head that you can fraternize with the spirit¬ 
ual forces that emanate from, and are in contact 
with, the spiritual power that resides in the Great 
Source and Center of this universe. 

As you go out into the world, to mingle with its 
men and women, to meet individuals who are ac¬ 
tuated by all sorts of sordid motives and base 
scruples, you need the inspiration, encouragement, 
and balance that comes from the assurance of re¬ 
ligious faith . 

You need to believe, with a whole heart, in a 
Supreme Being, and possess an unwavering con¬ 
fidence in a future existence. The older I get, the 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


107 


more I come to believe in the benefit any normal 
human being can derive from the enjoyment of 
some sort of religion. Of course, to me, as a med¬ 
ical man, it matters little what sort of religion a 
man has, just so it is a good one—just so it will 
serve the practical purpose of a safety valve for 
pep. Personally, I am a believer in the Christian 
religion, but as far as getting physical benefit is 
concerned a man can get it just as well out of any 
other system of religious belief—if he sincerely 
believes and honestly practices it. 

How Religion Helps. When all is said and 
done, our life down here is but one short, brief 
career. Our sojourn here on earth, no matter how 
successful we may be at the game we are playing, 
is but a few days of trial and struggle—of joy and 
sorrow. Our race is soon run, and our earthly 
goal—death—is soon reached. And I have found, 
not only in my personal experience, but in the case 
of my friends and patients who are in the business 
world, that it is a wonderful help to have some¬ 
thing to fall back on now and then, something to 
think of when oppressed by business worry and 
harassed with commercial cares. 

Although our plays and hobbies, our business 
interests and our devotion to home, all have their 
proper place, it seems after all that the average 
human being needs the inspiring influence, the ele¬ 
vating atmosphere, the spiritual tendencies, of a 
belief in a hereafter, a Great Beyond. 

Of course, I want your religion, your love of 
God, to be big enough to take in the love of every¬ 
thing that is beautiful and uplifting. Your reli¬ 
gion should be something more than a theologic 


108 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


creed or a superstitious dogma. Your religion 
should include the inspiration of music and the 
beauty of art—it should embrace all things ethi¬ 
cal, beautiful, and uplifting. In a word, I have 
come to the conclusion that man is naturally relig¬ 
ious and that, all things equal, he has better 
health and is happier if he enjoys a religion of 
some sort. 

I honestly believe, as a scientific man, that my 
fellow mortals need something like religion to en¬ 
large their minds, to ennoble their ambitions, to 
inspire their achievement, and to help them in 
successfully controlling their animal natures— 
their baser passions. 

Sex and Religion. I think it is a significant 
thing that the sex instinct and religious impulses 
are aroused in young people about the same time 
—at puberty. I think it is more than passingly 
significant and suggestive that religion was in¬ 
tended to help us in the control of sex, when we 
stop to think it is just around the age of twelve to 
fifteen that the sex emotions begin to appear in a 
youth’s life, and it is just about this same age 
that those tender and definite religious impulses 
are also felt. 

I think we all—at least most of us—as we come 
to grow older, begin to do some serious thinking 
about what is going to happen to us when we are 
through down here. After we have won our fight, 
after we have succeeded in the game we are play¬ 
ing on this planet, what are we going to do next ? 
Most of us, I take it for granted, believe in some 
sort of survival after death. Most of us, I think, 
are ambitious to develop a character, as we live 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


109 


our life down here, that will be worthy of sal¬ 
vaging, will be worth transporting to another, and, 
let us hope, a better world. 

Now, I am not talking about Sir Oliver Lodge 
or Sir A. Conan Doyle. I am not a spiritualist, 
but I do believe in the reality of spiritual things 
and in the existence of a spiritual world. I be¬ 
lieve in God, and I don’t think any scientific man 
or any man or woman should be ashamed of such 
a belief. The time is past when we should regard 
religion as the amusement of youth or a vocation 
for old maids. Religion is a good thing for edu¬ 
cated, upstanding, red-blooded, forward looking 
men and women. 

Religion as a Safety Valve. I believe that the 
very Power that puts the longing to live again 
into the hearts of man, will in some way supply 
the opportunity for those who are worthy. I 
don’t believe the Creator puts hunger for food or 
thirst for water in our souls and then leaves us to 
worry along without them. We find that for most 
forms of hunger and thirst there is something real 
to satisfy the longing, and I therefore believe 
that in the case of our desire to live again the 
Wise Intelligence or Divine Power that planted 
that thing in the human breast has provided some 
way for its achievement—that the hunger for 
eternal life means that there is a possibility of 
attaining it. 

My reason for discussing all this with you is 
that I believe religion is a great moral safety 
valve, a great spiritual governor to preside over 
the activities and to guide the destinies of Amer¬ 
ican men and women. I believe that when you are 


110 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


ground down by the heartlessness and crassness 
of the business world, when you are disgusted 
with politics and all its mess of graft, when so¬ 
ciety seems morally rotten and spiritually deca¬ 
dent, when you are about ready to lose confidence 
in the human race—then I say, when the day is 
gray and life itself seems hardly worth living—it 
is at such a time that religion comes in to illumi¬ 
nate the viewpoint, expand the horizon, and 
beckon you to face forward and look upward, to 
get a view not only of things as they are but of 
things as they ought to be—and so spiritual 
things become not only an inspiration for the fu¬ 
ture, but they prove stepping stones for deliver¬ 
ance from the sordid surroundings of today. 

VII. FALSE SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 

Now, in a way, I am through. I have finished 
discussing with you the safety valves for pep, 
but perhaps it is not best for me to stop with¬ 
out calling your attention to some false safety 
valves, some dangerous methods of trying to 
secure rest, relaxation, and relief from nervous 
tension. 

I know you will receive this part of my mes¬ 
sage in the spirit in which I offer it. I hope you 
may get some suggestions that may save you some 
sorrow and heartaches. In other words, I want 
to save you from the perilous chase of the rain¬ 
bows of enjoyment, and help you stick to the 
well-tried safety valves I have suggested. 
Among the false and deceptive methods of try¬ 
ing to secure relaxation and recreation, I may 
mention: 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


111 


1. Late Hours and Excitement. I have never 
found that the average individual could get much 
real satisfaction, happiness, or health out of stay¬ 
ing up late every night in the week trying to turn 
life into one round of riotous pleasure. I don’t 
think either health, happiness, or business ef¬ 
ficiency, or the inspirations therefor, are to be 
found in the cabaret. Let us not become vicious in 
our play, careless in our recreation, or heedless 
of the laws of health and the rules of society when 
we go out to have a good time. 

We must not forget that we have a real duty 
to perform to the race, the obligation of race re¬ 
production is not only a biologic duty, but it is 
also a moral obligation. Every person who car¬ 
ries the germ plasm of superior human strains 
should pause and consider what the world is com¬ 
ing to when the lowest, most degraded 25 per cent 
of our present slum and foreign population is re¬ 
producing more than half of the next generation. 
I think it is particularly unfortunate that profes¬ 
sional men and women, especially those who rep¬ 
resent good stock, are contributing so few children 
to the next generation. 

I especially urge that every man and woman 
maintain a normal viewpoint of life; that if there 
is no eugenic reason why they should not be mar¬ 
ried, they should constantly look forward to the 
founding of a home and the rearing of children, 
and even where physical disability, eugenic and 
hereditary handicaps or age preclude the possibil¬ 
ity or advisability of having children, even then 
marriage should be looked upon as the normal 
mode of living, as the ideal state of human society. 


112 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


A home is a great moral safety valve for hu¬ 
man restlessness and excess energy. The safe¬ 
guards of the association of a happy married life 
are invaluable from the standpoint of promoting 
health, increasing efficiency, and preventing 
disease. 

2. Narcotics and Stimulants. I am sure the 
average person is going to get only disappoint¬ 
ment from their efforts to gain relief from nervous 
tension or pent up energy by means of stimulants 
and narcotics. Tobacco, alcohol, and other 
drugs are false friends. They are certain de¬ 
ceivers. They give you unearned good feelings. 
They are a mortgage on your future health and 
strength. They are every time and all the while 
a snare and a delusion. 

I even question the wisdom of the people who 
want to secure the best possible results from their 
life efforts, becoming addicts to the use of tea and 
coffee. While some persons seem to indulge in 
the use of these narcotic beverages over a period 
of years without much apparent injury, on the 
other hand they are definitely harmful to others. 
Don’t form the habit of taking any drug regularly 
—not even cathartics. Look out for pain killers, 
headache powders, aspirin, and all other medi¬ 
cines of this sort. If you are fairly well, trust old 
Mother Nature to do her work without these drug 
aids, and if you are sick, put your case in the 
hands of a good doctor. Don’t prescribe for your¬ 
self. 

3. Gambling. Don’t seek to divert your mind 
or secure recreation at the wheel of fortune. 
Many individuals seek to relieve their pent-up 


SAFETY VALVES FOR PEP 


113 


feelings and indulge their craving for excitement 
at the gaming table, but it usually brings more 
sorrow than pleasure, more regret than joy. I 
know there seems to be something inborn in hu¬ 
man nature that leads them to try to get some¬ 
thing for nothing. We are all looking for short 
cuts to fame, health and power. 

Wholesome amusement, harmless recreation, 
and innocent diversion, we all recount as among 
the necessaries of life, and we all feel that we are 
entitled to a certain amount of play; but when it 
comes to the wheel of fortune for purposes of di¬ 
version, I fear you are making a mistake. I fear 
you are going too far. Better turn your attention 
to those real and uplifting channels of play and 
adventure, and let your emotions find expression 
in those other wholesome, safe, and sane avenues 
for fun and relaxation. 

And now I have finished my story—the story 
of the personality engine, the barometers of pep, 
the cultivation of pep, and last, the safety valves 
for pep. I have presumed, before I stopped, to 
warn you of the disastrous counterfeit safety 
valves, those things that promise to relieve tension 
and pressure, and which bring in their wake sor¬ 
row and disease. I have told you this story as it 
looks to the medical man, and I trust that I have 
said some things which will add to your health, 
happiness, and efficiency. 


8 


PART IV 


PEP SEEDS—HEALTH LAWS 
IN A NUTSHELL 

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 

1. Sensations of fatigue and pain are friendly 
voices of warning. They are the body’s con¬ 
science. We should heed their message and not 
silence their prayer by stimulants, narcotics, and 
pain killers. 

2. Some persons have inherited such vast 
riches of physical health that they are able to live 
a long time as hygienic spendthrifts with little 
personal suffering. The results of their careless 
living usually appear, however, later in life, or 
when they are called upon to pass through some 
crisis due to accident, infection, or disease. 

3. Unless there is something radically wrong 
with one’s nervous heredity or their habitual mode 
of thinking; unless the individual is suffering from 
some sort of chronic or wasting disease; there is 
no reason why a slight illness, an accident, a 
shock, or some other upheaval should lead to a 
complete nervous breakdown or other form of 
protracted illness. 

4. Most headaches, except migraine or peri¬ 
odic sick headache, can be cured. Find the cause 
of your headache and see that it is removed. Even 
migraine can be wonderfully helped, that is, the 
attack can be reduced both in frequency and 
severity. 


114 


PEP SEEDS 


115 


5. Chronic fatigue is due to one of four 
things—habitual overwork, chronic worry, the 
presence in the blood of the toxins of some dis¬ 
ease, or the circulation in the fluids of the body 
of the poisons absorbed into the system as the 
result of long-standing constipation. 

6. When suffering from insomnia, take a 
bath. Don’t take sleeping powders. A neutral 
bath at about 98° F. will do much to quiet the 
nerves and produce sleep. 

7. Eemember that Nature alone cures dis¬ 
ease. Doctors can not heal; drugs do not directly 
cure except in cases like quinin curing malaria 
by killing the parasite. A physician is merely a 
teacher who leads you back to the paths of health 
from which you have strayed. 

8. In dealing with constipation, avoid both 
cathartics and enemas as a regular practice. Ee¬ 
member the value of water drinking and coarse 
foods, such as fruit, vegetables, and bran. Don’t 
forget the importance of exercise and if anything 
artificial must be done, resort to mineral oil. 

9. Eemember that bad breath is sometimes 
due to the condition of the mouth, teeth, nose, and 
throat. Sometimes it is systemic, coming from 
the lungs, and in rare cases, it is from stomach 
trouble, indigestion, and constipation. 

10. Don’t overlook the fact that underweight 
before forty must receive attention, since it pre¬ 
disposes to tuberculosis; but that overweight 
after forty is far more serious, predisposing to 
heart and kidney trouble. 

11. Eemember that good cheer and courage 
are traits that can be cultivated. If you are 


116 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


deficient in these things, make up your mind to 
bring about an improvement. 

12. Avoid drug habits. Drugs are poison, 
whether they are labeled cocktails, cigarettes, 
tea, coffee, aspirin, or what not. Don’t take 
thyroid to reduce unless a doctor prescribes it 
for you. 

13. Remember there are two great carriers 
of infection and disease—dust and flies. Avoid 
both as far as possible. 

14. Avoid public drinking cups and public 
towels, and look out for the bubbly fountain if 
the water falls back into the cup. The only safe 
ones are those that give forth a stream at an 
angle. 

15. The white blood cells constitute the body’s 
standing army for the resistance of infectious 
diseases. Remember that the protective functions 
of these cells are largely destroyed by alcohol, 
morphine, quinine, and many other drugs, and 
they may also be greatly influenced in this wrong 
direction by the poisons of indigestion and chronic 
constipation. 

II. SUNLIGHT AND FRESH AIR 

1. Sunshine is the best-known disinfectant. 
It should be freely admitted to every human 
dwelling place. 

2. Remember that sleeping outdoors is a pre¬ 
ventive, as well as a cure, for tuberculosis; and 
that foul air is the curse of many of our modern 
manufacturing establishments and workshops, 
not to mention churches, schools, audience rooms, 
and other public buildings. 


PEP SEEDS 


117 


3. Don’t allow the temperature of living 
rooms during the winter season, to go much 
above 60° F. See to it that the air is properly 
humidified. Moisture is just as essential as 
purity. 

4. The ability of the human body to resist 
disease is greatly influenced by the number of 
hours you are spending each day in the sunshine 
and the open air. 

5. Man is an out-door animal. He was made 
to live in a garden; not a house. Eemember that 
each person requires one cubic foot of fresh air 
every second. 

6. If you have no regular system of ventila¬ 
tion in your office or home, open wide the doors 
and windows several times a day and enjoy the 
blessing of a thoroughgoing air flushing. 

7. Tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis, pleu¬ 
risy, catarrh, and “colds” are house diseases. 
Neither man nor any other animal contracts these 
diseases when they are sound and healthy, and 
when they live altogether out of doors. 

8. Moderate exercise in the open air is a val¬ 
uable health practice. Undue exposure to sun¬ 
light, excessive sunburn, etc., are of no special 
value. 

9. Exercise common sense in all matters of 
recreation and outdoor living. Nothing is to be 
gained by over-exposure to the summer sun or 
sleeping out of doors in severe weather. Don’t 
make a fad of even fresh air and sunshine. 


118 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


III. DEEP BREATHING 

1. Deep breathing promotes brain circula¬ 
tion, increases mental activity, favors healthy 
liver action, and aids digestion. Oxygen is 
Nature’s tonic. 

2. Natural breathing, like that of the infant, 
results in expansion of both the chest and abdo¬ 
men. A flat chest indicates weak lungs and de¬ 
creased physical efficiency. 

3. Shallow breathing beclouds the mind by 
causing a retention of blood poisons, thereby 
placing heavy and unnecessary burdens upon the 
moral nature. 

4. The lungs are Nature’s blood purifiers. In 
the place of taking patent medicines, eat good 
food, drink pure water, ventilate the house, go 
outdoors and breathe deeply. 

5. Remember that it is just as important to 
have fresh air at night and proper ventilation in 
the winter as at other times. Night air is just as 
pure or a little more so than day air. 

6. Natural breathing is both a preventive 
and a cure for many forms of constipation, as 
the diaphragm exerts a downward pressure on 
the stomach and bowels of about two hundred 
pounds. 

7. Despondent people are nearly always shal¬ 
low breathers. Bad breathing and worry nearly 
always go together. Getting rid of one nearly al¬ 
ways helps in overcoming the other. 

8. Use the diaphragm for breathing. Don’t 
breathe merely with the top of the chest as you 
would be forced to do if you wore a tight corset. 


PEP SEEDS 


119 


Let the diaphragm move up and down so as 
thoroughly to ventilate the bottom of the lungs. 

9. Don’t expect to get more oxygen in your 
blood by simply practicing deep breathing exer¬ 
cises before an open window. In order that deep 
breathing should send more oxygen into the blood 
it is necessary to engage in sufficient physical ex¬ 
ercise to create the demand for oxygen through¬ 
out the body. 

IV. PHYSICAL EXERCISE 

1. Body work is indispensable to first-class 
brain work. A daily sweat is a valuable health 
practice. Exercise is better for the health if it is 
regular, useful, pleasant, and agreeable. 

2. Systematic physical exercise is absolutely 
essential to good circulation, sound digestion, and 
regular bowel movement. 

3. You owe it to yourself to learn how to 
stand, sit, and walk properly, and also how to 
climb stairs in a healthful manner. 

4. The ideal exercise is walking outdoors, 
five or six miles a day, the arms swinging freely, 
while every muscle is vigorously energized. 

5. In exercising for health, it is the heavy 
movements that count. Self-resistive exercises 
are excellent, as you are working against your 
own muscles and not against dead weight. 

6. Physical exercise helps in the disposal of 
the poisons of the body and thus,, directly aids 
clear thinking and therefore is of assistance in all 
of our life struggles. 

7. Don’t make a fad out of exercise. It is 
not necessary to spend all of one’s energy in 


120 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


oiling the physical machine. There is a mental 
and spiritual life to lead as well as a physical. 

8. Of the many systems of exercise, one is 
just about as good as another. The most valu¬ 
able form of exercise is some useful work that af¬ 
fords mental satisfaction along with physical ex¬ 
ertion. 

9. In all forms of indoor exercise see that 
plenty of fresh air is provided during the period 
of physical exertion. 

10. See that physical exercise is adapted to 
the age, physical constitution, and nervous con¬ 
dition of the patient. Overexercise may prove 
disastrous to those having weak hearts or de¬ 
bilitating diseases. 

V. HEALTHFUL CLOTHING 

1. Hats and other headdress should be light 
and airy, while thin-soled shoes are dangerous in 
damp and cold weather. 

2. Avoid waterproof clothing and waterproof 
shoes as far as possible. For outer garments 
wool is the best for winter, while cotton serves 
best in summer. 

3. In winter clothe the extremities well. The 
primary purposes of clothing are those of pro¬ 
tection and modesty, not adornment and dis¬ 
play. 

4. During the winter, look out for overcloth¬ 
ing the body. Use furs with discretion. Clothe 
the body evenly and symmetrically. 

5. The best material for underclothing is 
linen; cotton next. Woolen underclothing is in 
every way undesirable. 


PEP SEEDS 


121 


6. See that your clothing does not hamper or 
in any way interfere with respiration. Tight 
corsets, bands, or other restrictions are undesir¬ 
able. 

7. Wear sensible shoes, especially when en¬ 
gaged in out door exercise or taking health hikes. 
Remember that the human foot naturally toes in 
a bit. 

8. Dress sensibly. Let your clothing be 
appropriate for your work, play, or recrea¬ 
tion. Dress according to the season and the 
occasion. 

VI. THE ART OF EATING 

1. Avoid extremes of temperature in eat¬ 
ing and drinking. Eat some fresh, raw food 
daily, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, or dried 
fruits. 

2. Thorough mastication—all things being 
equal—is one of the great secrets of good diges¬ 
tion. The best of foods are injurious when over¬ 
eaten, and the prompt elimination of the waste 
products of the body is equally important with 
good digestion. 

3. For the sake of the teeth, as well as the 
digestion, eat more hard foods. Eat pure, whole¬ 
some, unadulterated foods. 

4. The more simple one’s diet, the less the 
craving of the nervous system for unnatural foods 
and harmful stimulants. Avoid an excess of both 
sugar and salt. 

5. It is quite impossible to have peace in the 
head and war in the stomach. Coarse eating and 
fine thinking are incompatible. 


122 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


6. Tea and coffee are drugs, they are not 
foods. Their only nourishing property is the 
sugar and milk added. 

7. Remember that overeating of protein 
(meat, white of egg, cheese, etc.) produces far 
more serious results in the body than does the 
overeating of other food elements. 

8. Remember that digestion is powerfully in¬ 
fluenced by the mental state. Keep the mind 
cheerful and hopeful during, and just after, the 
meal hour. 

9. The cook stove is of great value in cook¬ 
ing cereals, but it is overworked and much 
abused. Most fruits, vegetables and nuts are bet¬ 
ter eaten raw. Eat something uncooked every 
day. 

10. Drinking at meals has little to do with di¬ 
gestion in the case of most well people. Some do 
better with liquids—some better without. 

11. Engineers know how to feed their fur¬ 
naces better, and farmers know how to feed their 
cattle better, than the average man knows how to 
feed himself. 

12. Eat natural foods, cultivate your tastes, 
and the appetite will in time become a fairly re¬ 
liable guide as to when to eat, what to eat, and 
how to eat. 

13. The American people eat too much meat. 
That is, they take too much protein. Other foods 
containing protein are cheese, eggs, beans, and 
most nuts. 

14. Study foods and learn how properly to 
balance your daily ration. The average man re¬ 
quires about 2,000 calories a day. Consult the 


PEP SEEDS 


123 


food tables and find out how much you are eat¬ 
ing. 

15. A good appetite ordinarily equals a good 
digestion. If the appetite is poor make such 
changes in your habits as will enable you to earn 
a good one. A good appetite equals good diges¬ 
tive juices. 

16. Multiplicity of dishes tends to produce in¬ 
digestion. Eat but two or three articles of food 
at a single meal. If you are not hungry skip a 
meal now and then. 

17. Remember that most people eat too much 
and eat too often. That “all-gone ’’ feeling in the 
region of the stomach is the cry of Nature for oxy¬ 
gen or water, not for food. Two meals a day are 
better for some people than three. 

18. Avoid too many highly seasoned dishes, 
pickles, and the stronger condiments, such as mus¬ 
tard, pepper, and vinegar—in fact, look with dis¬ 
favor upon anything that is “hot when it is cold.” 
Remember, whatever braces a food against decay 
also braces it against digestion. 

19. Avoid eating too much soft candy, and it 
is best not to eat even hard candy between meals. 
Candy, nuts, and ice cream sodas are foods—not 
just harmless knick-knacks. They have to be di¬ 
gested and should only be eaten at or near meal 
time. 

20. Do not overlook the value of foods rich in 

iron, such as spinach, asparagus, oranges, to¬ 
matoes, yolk of eggs, etc. This is the way to pre¬ 
vent anemia. < 

21. Remember that you get vitamins from : 
raw foods such as fruits, vegetables, and unheated j 


124 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


milk. Also remember that orange juice and 
tomato juice contain practically all of the vita¬ 
mins. 

22. Avoid eating too heavily of acid-ash 
foods. See that your meals consist not wholly of 
meats, eggs, and cereals; but that you also have 
milk, fruit, and vegetables. 

23. Try to have a balanced bill of fare. Don’t 
have meat, baked beans, and cheese at the same 
meal; they are all high protein foods. 

24. Above all keep your mind off your diges¬ 
tion. Remember that no first class stomach will 
do good work if you spy on it. 

25. See that calcium and iodine are added to 
the salt; especially in the case of young people, 
and more particularly those who live in the goiter 
zone. Better still, fill your salt shaker with the 
newer salt that contains both iodine and calcium 
phosphate. 

VII. PURE WATER DRINKING 
AND BATHING 

1. Fresh fruit juices and lemonade are good 
beverages—wholesome and healthful. Mineral 
waters have a reputation which is seldom de¬ 
served. 

2. Remember that the internal bath of the 
body is just as necessary and essential as the ex¬ 
ternal bath. 

3. Cultivate a regular water drinking habit. 
Most sedentary people drink about one-fourth 
the water they need. 

4. The daily intake of water should equal the 
daily outgo. The minimum requirement, accord- 


PEP SEEDS 


125 


ing to this rule, for sedentary persons is about 
eight glasses. 

5. Cleanse the mouth and teeth regularly and 
go to the dentist at least once a year. 

6. The neglect of regular bathing results 
in overworking the liver and kidneys, and de¬ 
bilitates the skin. For persons who are fairly 
strong, the cold morning bath is an excellent 
tonic. 

7. Hot baths are weakening and debilitating 
unless they are finished off with short applications 
of cold water. 

8. Regular bathing is not a luxury, it is a ne¬ 
cessity. The skin should be cleansed by a warm 
soap bath once or twice a week. 

9. Most people will get better results from 
cold baths if they are taken in a warm room and 
immediately followed by physical exercise. 

10. The effects of short cold baths are nat¬ 
ural. The same kind of reaction would be spon¬ 
taneous in the healthy skin exposed to the air. 
Baths are simply an antidote for the wearing of 
clothes. 

11. The morning cold bath is very valuable 
for most sedentary people, especially if they re¬ 
act well after the bath and are not bothered with 
chilly feelings running up and down the spine, or 
headaches. 

12. If you are in good health it is not neces¬ 
sary to engage in any form of bathing except the 
warm soap bath once or twice a week for clean¬ 
liness. 


126 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


VIII. REST, RELAXATION, AND 
RECREATION 

1. High blood pressure as well as hard ar¬ 
teries are concerned in the production of the dis¬ 
eases and disorders of old age. A man is as old 
as his arteries are hard and as his blood pressure 
is permanently raised. 

2. We have a fictitious feeling of exhilaration 
and well-being when the blood pressure is slightly 
elevated. On the other hand we suffer unduly 
from oppression and fatigue when the blood pres¬ 
sure is abnormally low. The former condition is 
accompanied by danger, and the latter is harm¬ 
less provided the heart is sound. 

3. Many influences assist in raising blood 
pressure, such as the excessive use of tobacco, tea, 
and coffee, and perhaps even the over-use of meat 
and condiments. The pressure is also sometimes 
influenced by constipation, chronic worry, and 
anxiety. Syphilis is a common cause of hard ar¬ 
teries and high blood pressure. 

4. Don’t take drugs for worry and sleep¬ 
lessness—take a bath. Many persons who live 
the strenuous life sleep too little and eat too 
much. 

5. Regular rest is essential to the health of 
mind and body. Make your weekly rest day just 
as complete a day of rest and relaxation as pos¬ 
sible. Some persons below par would do well to 
take half a day of rest or play in the middle of the 
week. 

6. Cultivate the art of living with yourself as 
you are and the world as it is. Remember that 


PEP SEEDS 


127 


worry about business, social, or industrial af¬ 
fairs can never help. 

7. The secret of deliverance from worry is 
self-control. Minimize your difficulties; cultivate 
faith and trust. 

8. Success may be the ability to get what you 
want, but happiness is the ability to want what 
you have. 

9. It is a great mistake to fight sleeplessness 
with drugs. In the end the drugs themselves will 
produce more insomnia. The average person re¬ 
quires about eight hours of sound sleep every 
night. 

10. Shun worry and all its cousins as you 
would avoid the plague. There is no trouble 
however serious that worrying over will do any 
good. 

11. Remember that sleep is an antidote for 
work but not for worry. 

12. To rob oneself of sleep is simply putting 
a mortgage on future health and happiness. 
Nature is sure to foreclose sooner or later 
and you will be required to pay compound in¬ 
terest. 

13. Conditions which favor sound sleep are 
quiet, mental peace, pure blood, good digestion, 
fresh air (the colder the better), an empty stom¬ 
ach, physical weariness (not fatigue), mental 
weariness (but not worry). 

14. The physiologic resting posture is with 
the body recumbent, resting on either side, per¬ 
haps slightly inclined toward the face or abdo¬ 
men. The emptying of the stomach, if one has 
eaten at a late hour, and the action of the heart, 


128 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


are favored by sleeping on the right side. There 
are numerous reasons for not sleeping on the 
back. 

15. The older we get the less sleep we require. 
While younger persons require nine or ten hours 
sleep, and those in middle life eight hours, older 
persons sometimes do well on five or six. 

16. Remember that the emotions have a great 
deal to do with health and happiness. We have 
four universal biologic emotional outlets or means 
of self-expression. They are the love of work, 
love of play, religion, and our social and sex life. 

17. Let us not forget that sometimes when we 
are tired we need not so much physical rest as 
mental change and diversification. Sometimes 
when we are tired, we are rested more by some 
form of play than by going to bed. 

18. It is a great health practice if you can 
learn to love your work and can find a fad of some 
sort, something you turn your thoughts and at¬ 
tention to when the day’s work is over. At any 
rate, if we would be healthy and happy, we must 
keep our minds off ourselves. 

19. While conscience is indispensable to the 
maintenance of modern civilization, don’t become 
over-conscientious on trifles. Rememer that while 
conscience always tells you to do right, it never 
tells you what right is. 


APPENDIX A 

TABLE OF FOOD CALORIES 
STANDARD PORTIONS 

T HIS table presents an extended list of com¬ 
monly used foods, giving a rough estimate, or 
measurement, of a “standard portion”; that is, 
a portion containing approximately one hundred 
calories. This table has been prepared so as to 
include the majority of ordinarily used foods as 
they are usually served on the dining tables of the 
average home or restaurant. A study of these 
tables will enable one to know about how many 
calories are consumed at each meal. 


CALORIC TABLE OF COOKED FOODS 

(100 calorie portions—approximately) 


1. Cereals 


Bread: brown, graham, white, 

or whole wheat. 

Bread, com . 

Com flakes . 

Cornmeal mush. 

Crackers: graham, white, or 

oatmeal .. 

Crackers: ordinary soda, va¬ 
rious kinds .. 

Farina .. 

Graham gems or puffs.. 

Hominy, cooked. 

Macaroni, cooked. 

Oatmeal mush . 

Rice, boiled. 

Rice, puffed . 

Rolls, Vienna . 


one ordinary thick slice 
small square 

one cereal dish (level full) 
one large serving 

two large square crackers 

eight round crackers 
,one serving 
.three gems or puffs 
.large serving 
.ordinary serving 
.one and one-half servings 
.ordinary cereal dish 
.two servings 
, one large roll 


129 


9 
















130 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Shredded wheat .one biscuit 

Zwieback .one thick slice 

2. Fruits 

Apple juice.one large glass 

Apple sauce .ordinary serving 

Apples .two small or one very large 

Apricots, cooked.large serving 

Bananas.one large 

Blackberries, fresh.two servings 

Blackberry juice .one large glass 

Blackberry sauce.one serving 

Blueberry juice .two small glasses 

Blueberry sauce.one large serving 

Canteloupe .half or ordinary serving 

Cherries, fresh .two servings 

Cherry sauce.one serving 

Dates ..four large 

Figs .two small or one extra large 

Fruit jelly.one ordinary serving 

Grape juice.one small glass 

Grapefruit (with sugar) .one-half 

Grapes, fresh .one average bunch 

Lemonade .two small glasses 

Olive oil.one tablespoonful 

Olives, ripe.seven average olives 

Orange juice.one large glass 

Oranges .one very large 

Peach sauce .ordinary serving 

Peaches, fresh ..three ordinary 

Pear sauce .ordinary serving 

Pineapple sauce.two servings 

Plum sauce .one ordinary serving 

Plums, fresh...three large (California) 

Prune marmalade .four tablespoonfuls 

Prunes, stewed ...six large 

Prunes, dried .three large 

Raisins, stewed.one-half ordinary serving 

Raspberries, fresh.two servings 

Raspberry juice.one large glass 

Raspberry sauce .one ordinary serving 

Strawberries (with sugar) ... .one serving 
Strawberries, raw .two servings 










































APPENDIX A 


131 


Strawberry sauce.one serving 

Tomatoes, breaded.two servings 

Tomatoes, canned.four servings 

Tomatoes, raw .four average 

Watermelon .one ordinary piece 


Almonds . 

3. 

Nuts 

... about eight 

Brazil nuts . 


.. .three ordinary size 

Chestnuts. 


.. about twelve 

Cocoanut, prepared. 


... ordinary serving 

Filberts . 


... ten nuts 

Hickory nuts (large)_ 


... about ten 

Pecans . 


... about eight 

Pine nuts. 


... about eighty 

Walnuts, English. 


,.. about six 

4. 

Vegetables 

Asparagus, cooked, creamed., 

,. .one serving 

Beans, baked. 


,.. a small side dish 

Beans, Lima, green. 


,.. one large serving 

Beans, string . 


,. .five servings 

Beets . 


,. .three servings 

Cabbage, boiled . 


. .four servings 

Cabbage slaw (cream)... 


.. three servings 

Carrots, creamed . 


.. two servings 

Cauliflower, boiled.. 


.. four servings 

Celery, raw.. 


.. about twelve average stalks 

Corn, sweet, stewed.. 


.. one ordinary serving 

Cucumber, raw, sliced ..., 


. .five servings 

Eggplant, fried . 


.. three servings 

Greens, dandelion . 


. .two large servings 

Lettuce, salad .. 


.. five or six servings 

Onions, cooked . 


. .two large servings 

Parsnips . 


. .two servings 

Peas, green, creamed. 


. .one serving 

Peas, green, plain. 


. .two servings 

Potatoes, baked or boiled. 


. .one good size 

Potatoes, steamed . 


.. one ordinary potato 

Potatoes, sweet. 


.. one medium potato 

Pumpkin, cooked. 


. .two large servings 

Spinach, cooked . 


. .two ordinary servings 

Squash, cooked. 


.. two ordinary servings 








































132 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Succotash, canned .one large serving 

Turnips .three ordinary servings 

Vegetable oysters, stewed.four servings 


5. Flesh Foods 

Beef, boiled (average lean)... .large serving 

Beef, boiled (average fat).small serving 

Beef, loin (fat).small serving 

Beef, lom (lean).ordinary serving 

Beef, porterhouse steak.very small steak 

Beef, ribs, boiled.small serving 

Beef, sirloin steak.very small steak 

Chickens (broilers) .large serving 

Chicken, canned.two thin slices 

Goose (young) .half serving 

Halibut steak .ordinary serving 

Lamb chops, broiled.one small chop 

Lamb, leg, roasted.ordinary serving 

Mutton, leg, broiled.large serving 

Oysters, raw.one dozen 

Pork, bacon, smoked.small serving 

Pork chops, cooked.small chop 

Pork, ham, boiled (fat).small serving 

Pork, ham, roasted (lean).very small serving 

Rabbit, cooked .small serving 

Salmon.small serving 

Trout (brook).two small servings 

Turkey .two small servings 

Veal, leg, boiled.large serving 

Whitefish, broiled .large serving 


6. Animal Products 


Butter, creamery . 

Buttermilk. 

Cheese, American 
Cheese, cottage .. 

Cream. 

Eggs, boiled . 

Eggs, large, whites 
Eggs, large, yolks 
Milk, skimmed ... 
Milk, whole. 


one ordinary square 
one and one-half glasses 
one and one-half cubic in. 
four cubic inches 
one-fourth ordinary glass 
one extra large egg 
two whites 
two yolks 

one and one-half glasses 
one small glass 







































APPENDIX A 


133 


7. Legumes 

Beans, baked .small side dish 

Beans, Lima, canned.large side dish 

Lentils, baked .».one serving 

Peas, dried, cooked. ^... one large serving 

Peanut butter.a little more than butter 

Peanuts .thirteen double 

8. Miscellaneous and Cooked Foods 

Cake, chocolate layer.half ordinary piece 

Cake, gingerbread .half ordinary square 

Cake, sponge.small piece 

Cereal, coffee, sugar and cream, .one cup 

Cocoa, sugar and cream.one cup 

Custard, milk .ordinary cup 

Custard, tapioca .two-thirds serving 

Doughnuts.half a doughnut 

Honey .four teaspoonfuls 

Malted milk .two-thirds glass 

Maple syrup .four teaspoonfuls 

Pie, apple .one-third ordinary piece 

Pie, cream.one-fourth ordinary piece 

Pie, custard.one-third ordinary piece 

Pie, lemon.one-third ordinary piece 

Pie, pumpkin .one-third ordinary piece 

(an ordinary piece of pie is reckoned as one-fourth of a pie) 

Pudding, apple tapioca .small serving 

Pudding, “Brown Betty”.half serving 

Pudding, commeal.half ordinary serving 

Pudding, cream rice.two small servings 

Salad, mixed fruit.two or three servings 

Salad, potato .one large serving 

Soup, bean .very large plate 

Soup, cream of celery.two plates 

Soup, cream of potato.ordinary plate 

Soup, creamed com .ordinary plate 

Soup, vegetable .two plates 

Sugar, granulated .three teaspoonfuls 

Sugar, maple .four teaspoonfuls 

Tapioca, cooked .. ordinary serving 

Toast, blueberry...ordinary serving 

Toast, cream.two-thirds serving 







































134 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


Toast, fruit. 

Toast, gravy. 

Toast, “Snowflake” 
Toast, tomato .... 


ordinary serving 
two-thirds ordinary serving 
two-thirds serving 
ordinary serving 






APPENDIX B 

THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 

T HINKING that some readers might like to 
pursue the subject of the ductless glands and 
personality further than could well be attempted 
in the text, some additional matter is here pre¬ 
sented which will more fully explain the influence 
of these so-called internal secretions on different 
types of temperaments. 

THE SECRET OF HUMAN 
DIFFERENCES 

Did you ever stop to think what is really the 
explanation of the great difference that will be 
found between—say two business men of the same 
race and town, who were graduated at the same 
high school? One is clear-eyed and keen-witted, 
snappy, possessing good judgment and clear rea¬ 
soning power; he can reach a business decision in 
a moment—in the twinkling of an eye. Then, in 
comparison with this picture of cleverness and 
vivacity, take another man, his classmate, who is 
slow, inactive, dull-eyed, and comparatively stu¬ 
pid; just as intelligent as his more successful fel¬ 
low townsman when it comes to matters educa¬ 
tional, just as determined to win success; but 
withal, handicapped at every turn, slow in judg¬ 
ment, deficient in reasoning power, unable quick¬ 
ly to make up his mind, and even with all his 
deliberation, he does not decide things as well as 

135 


136 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


his more fortunate competitor, who makes up his 
mind almost instantly. 

What is the answer to all this? Ductless 
glands. One has a fortunate, well-coordinated 
ductless gland system, the other has not. That is 
the whole of the tragic story. The one is predis¬ 
posed, by nature, towards success; the other is 
handicapped and must work much harder in order 
to attain an equal degree of success. It can be 
done; the handicap of nature, in this as in other 
directions, can be largely overcome. Persistence 
will win for us victories in spite of the handicaps 
of inheritance. 

The Chemistry of Success—The Chemistry of 
Fate. We see, then, that we are all more or less 
victims of our own ductless glands. We may not, 
at this date, speak of the chemistry of the soul, 
but at least we can speak of the chemistry of fate. 
True, we have a will, and we have choice within 
certain limitations, but the laws of chemistry 
largely dominate our personality and determine 
our business activities. I was much amused, the 
other day, by a minister in my office, who came to 
discuss with me the case of his neurasthenic 
daughter. He wanted to talk with me about duct¬ 
less glands. He couldn’t understand how his 
daughter could be helped so much and so quickly 
by just a little psychology and a little thyroid ex¬ 
tract. I explained to him as best I could, our 
more recent knowledge regarding these develop¬ 
ments in ductless gland treatment, and after I 
had finished he looked off into the distance. (I 
don’t know whether he was reminiscing or whether 
he was getting ready to administer some veiled 


APPENDIX B 


137 


reproof to me.) At any rate, this is what he said: 
“Well, it’s all very interesting, Doctor. At least 
you are inventing a lot of trouble for the theolo¬ 
gians of the next generation. Let me see if I get 
you right; yesterday God was a psychologist, to¬ 
day He is a chemist, tomorrow He probably will 
be an electrician.' 9 

You see, the minister remembered that we were 
curing everything a dozen years ago by psychol¬ 
ogy ; and he saw that we were curing more now— 
at least his daughter—by chemistry, ductless 
glands; and he had probably been reading some 
magazine articles about the electron, to the effect 
that all matter merely consisted in charges of 
positive and negative electricity, and he thought 
that probably ere long the electrician would be¬ 
come the mender of men. 

The Province of Will Power. But don't for¬ 
get this, if you are tempted to bemoan your hered¬ 
ity—the fact that your ancestors gave you a punk 
set of glands—I say, don't forget that very few 
of you ever measure up to one-tenth the inheri¬ 
tance you have—what you could attain if you put 
forth your best efforts. Let us make the best of 
the inheritance we have before we get peeved at 
old Mother Nature for not giving us more. Re¬ 
member that the will still has great range of action 
and that you can do a lot of things you have not 
done for yourselves if you will only make up your 
mind and stick to it. 

But when all is said and done, we recognize 
that we do have what may properly be called the 
chemistry of success , that some of us succeed more 
readily than others because of our more fortunate 


138 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


and well correlated ductless gland system. If the 
right gland, in our particular case, can only be¬ 
come chairman of the board of chemical directors, 
we are going to succeed more quickly and more 
easily. And in the case of the American business 
man or woman it is probably the thyroid gland 
that dominates. The thyroid is probably the 
chairman and the directing influence in the major¬ 
ity of successful American business men. 

Let me call attention again to the fact that 
neither the men nor the women are to blame for 
their peculiar personal tendencies. The egotism 
on the part of the man is supposedly due to the 
fact that he has a larger anterior pituitary body, 
while the vanity on the part of the woman is sup¬ 
posed to be due to the fact that she has a larger 
posterior pituitary body; so that these tempera¬ 
mental tendencies are but natural endowments. 
But let us again remember the admonition of the 
apostle Paul, that we should be < ‘ temperate in all 
things,” even in our temperamental tendencies. 

CLASSIFICATION OF TEMPERAMENTS 

It might be well to give a brief idea of how 
temperaments might be classified, from the stand¬ 
point of the dominant ductless gland. You have 
been told that the average successful American of 
affairs is, as a rule, thyroid-dominant. Let me 
briefly describe the six chief types of successful 
men and women. They may be grouped as fol¬ 
lows : 

1. The Thyroid Dominant Type. These in¬ 
dividuals have an oval face, high brow, good 
complexion, abundant hair, full eyebrows, small 


APPENDIX B 


139 


muscles. They are usually tactful, and while high 
strung, they have fairly good control of their tem¬ 
pers. They are full of pep, usually slender, often 
blue-eyed and have a highly elastic skin. 

You see, I am describing the typical, irritable, 
successful type of American citizen. These are 
the men and women who undertake anything, will 
go anywhere, and who usually “ bring home the 
bacon.’’ These are the folks who have full eye¬ 
brows. Perhaps you have not noticed that some 
of you have eyebrows that are lacking on the 
outer third. Most of you who are thus deficient 
in this part of the eyebrow also have an inelastic 
skin. You are usually sub-thyroid. It is some¬ 
times very difficult to venture an opinion regard¬ 
ing a woman’s eyebrows. If the outer third is 
missing she usually puts it on. 

2. The Adrenal Dominant Type. These in¬ 
dividuals have a round face, usually broadish, 
comparatively low brow, hair over the cheek bones 
(in the case of men); have large canine teeth, big 
muscles, often quick-tempered—though not al¬ 
ways; have a tendency to freckle and pigmenta¬ 
tion of the skin; as a rule fat (but not always); 
usually have dark or brown eyes, and the skin is 
comparatively inelastic. 

You see I am describing the assertive, pugna¬ 
cious and militant type of citizen; the folks who 
win through persistence, who accomplish things 
because they are determined and dogged in every¬ 
thing they undertake. The thyroid-dominant type 
of salesman wins through his cleverness, his dash 
and energy; but the adrenal dominant salesman 
wins because of perseverance, plodding, and 


140 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


determination. The adrenal glands are two in 
number, perched like little hoods upon the top of 
each kidney. 

3. The Pituitary Dominant Type. These 
folks are represented by the placid, gentle, philo¬ 
sophic type. In the case of the men, they are 
sometimes (though not always) slightly effemi¬ 
nate. The women are the more intellectual type 
of folks who like to study. They are the college 
graduate type of woman. They are usually pretty 
calm, fairly considerate, level headed, conserva¬ 
tive, and withal highly desirable and peaceful cit¬ 
izens. They are the non-militant, pacifist type. 
As a rule, they are not aggressive, often easy- 
living, and are very kind hearted. The pituitary 
gland consists of an anterior and posterior por¬ 
tion and is situated at the base of the skull in a 
little bony depression. In size it is little larger 
than an ordinary garden pea. 

4. The Thymus Dominant Type. These are 
the childlike, happy-go-lucky sort of men and 
women, who are more or less of the type of odd 
geniuses, effeminate in the case of men. They all 
have “peaches and cream” complexion, they are 
artistic, and they seldom achieve very much in the 
commercial world, except in some specialized 
fields. They don’t as a rule, get very far in the 
modern economic scrimmage and the business 
scuffle of the twentieth century. The thymus 
gland is situated low down in the root of the neck 
—it is really in the chest, and is a prenatal gland. 
It is supposed largely to have disappeared at the 
time, or soon after, we are born into this world. 


APPENDIX B 


141 


5. The Pineal Dominant Type. The pineal 
gland is situated near the base of the skull, not 
far from the pituitary, and when it is over-de¬ 
veloped, it results in turning the boy into an old 
man before he reaches his teens. It is respon¬ 
sible for the precocious type of boys and girls, 
those who are wonders as chess players, mathe¬ 
maticians, etc., the lads who go into college when 
they are eight or ten years old. 

6. The Gonad Dominant Type. By the 
gonads we mean the sex glands, either male or 
female. The gonad dominant individuals are 
usually of the secretive, sly type of personality; 
individuals that you perhaps don’t like very well, 
though they may be very able folks for all that. 
As a rule, they don’t represent the highest and 
most successful type of man or woman. 

To summarize then, the six types we have dis¬ 
cussed, we would briefly describe them as follows : 

1. The thyroid dominants are irritable, ex¬ 
citable, and energetic. 

2. The adrenal dominants are assertive, pug¬ 
nacious, and determined. 

3. The pituitary dominants are placid, gentle, 
and philosophic. 

4. The thymus dominants are childlike, unde¬ 
veloped, and happy-go-lucky. 

5. The pineal dominants are precocious—old 
when they are young. 

6. The gonad dominants are sly, secretive, 
and deceptive. 

Of course, you must remember as you examine 
yourselves, that some of you will find you are not 
typical of any one of these glands. You are 


142 


THE ELEMENTS OF PEP 


neither thyroid, adrenal, nor pituitary dominants. 
You are just common, every-day, well-balanced, 
well-blended individuals; you have prominent in 
your makeup traits indicative of more than one 
gland. In America we are a blended stock, and 
it would not be at all strange if many of you were 
found to be so fortunately blended that no one 
gland is dominant. And I think, on the whole, that 
such a condition should be regarded as in every 
way fortunate. 



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